View attachment 247711 FRL Fridays: Issue Eight
Pole Position
Total Spa WSC Report, plus ToCA and a news series planned! Enjoy! Fridays – Editor, Rob Adams
Picture Of The Week
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Eau Rouge. Nothing More.
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!
V8 Power
Although there have been many V8 cars in FRL’s history, there has never been a purposed built V8 championship. Well look no further! In the ToCA/WSC off season the rumble will be heard! Four spec cars will compete at 8 different locations worldwide (Bathurst being a test) which should bring close, fast, and loud racing! Full course cautions will also be in place. Some weekends will be two shorter races, others will be one, endurance style. There will be two championship points types, the regular event race points and the Pirtek Endurance Cup points! These events will be Motegi, Bathurst and Madrid. This will sure to be interesting as the high power and twisty track combinations will sort the men from the boys!
ToCA returns to the place it started - Cape Ring!
Round 4 of the championship saw
@Ninners for the 2nd week in a row on the pole as he stamped his authority on the field. Once he was away with teammate@@Andilbacking him up. Behind in a frenetic first lap
@RyanRacer overshot the final hairpin and in attempting to move
@Furinkazen off the racing line, slammed the pit wall, pitting for repairs and dropping out of any contention. The SYM Hyundais continued strong form from Brands Hatch with
@snowgt leading
@Yeratel84 home in a 3-4 finish, and
@Furinkazen took the Jack Sears win with a 5th place finish, edging out
@SkengD.
@AudiMan2011 secured a season best 7th, with the debuting
@GTracer98, returnee
@LancerEvo7 and
@chrisjohnson93 rounding out the top 10.
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Round 5 saw yet another Volvo 1-2 with a controlled drive through the field from Ninners to take the win. Ryan split the Volvos taking advantage of a good starting spot, whilst a major crash in the Esses triggered by series debutant @patris136 sliding off into @Yeratel also did major damage to the race chances of
@LancerEvo7. Andil was also involved but recovered to take 3rd position whilst
@SkengD took the Jack Sears Trophy win just ahead of
@Furinkazen.
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Round 6 was a usual final race of the day which proved quite bruising for some, with cars going off through the race and a lot of dirt and damage in the paddock afterwards. Somehow
@Ninners negotiated the melee to pull off a historic triple with
@Andil second, and Jack Sears winner
@SkengD rounding off the podium.
@LancerEvo7 and
@chrisjohnson93 both made returns to the ToCA top 5, with
@hsv just behind, and further back the delayed
@snowgt and
@Furinkazen.
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World Sportscar Championship Total Spa 24hrs
Despite both champions being crowned, the racing was a fraught as ever in the Ardent Valley! Qualifying saw
@chrisjohnson93 on pole in GT-P despite it only being his second drive in the class this season! Ryan was second on the grid followed by second in the championship
@Furinkazen was third only just missing out being on the front row.
@jammy21 Brought up the rear of the GT-P grid, but was also fractions off of pole! GT-O saw WSC debutant
@Ninners with champion
@snowgt on the other side of the grid!
@Andil managed 3rd with
@raceorama123432 4th.
@R0ssingt0n,
@DK,
@Yeratel84,
@LancerEvo7 and
@ranhammerR34 filled out the final spacing’s on the grid. Lancer took a prototype version of next seasons Cobra as a garage 56 entry.
However, the 4 car GT-P grid were down to 3 at the end of the green flag lap as pole sitter Chris lost all gears which ended a disappointing season for Jaguar. This saw a straight shoot out of Fords for the rest of the race! Or so we thought! Ryan led much of the early part of the Kemmel Straight but an off saw him take the car to the pits and retire it there and then. The last two GT-P cars would remain for the rest of the race! Furi was left uncontested to finish half a lap ahead of Jammy who brought the GT40 home second. This is the last time for the foreseeable future that these two cars will race against each other in the same class.
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In GT-O there was a bit of confusion with the GT-O start as the leaders were slow away and it was the cars in 4th and 5th that led the way through Eau Rouge. 3 and 4 wide moments then ensued but at the end of the first lap the top 7 drivers were covered by little over 1 second. It was Lout that led the way from Orama and Yera who’d come up from the back of the grid. Andil and Ninners were up to their ToCA tricks as they were side by side into La Source with the Garage 56 Cobra in 6th and Champion Snow down to 7th from 2nd. But it wasn’t over yet! Lout ran wide though La Source sending Orama into Yera, this gave all three drivers damage and the first two cars across the line had to pit. This dropped the leading scrap down to 4 cars, but it was none the less exciting! Ninners led Yera, Snow and Andy on lap 4, but next time by he was at the back of the order! It took him 10 laps to make it back to the head of the field! The pitstops then followed but the order remained the same at the hour mark! Disaster for the leader then followed as he broke a drive shaft sheering the wheel clean off the 250 GTB and it was retirement for the reigning ToCA champion. This left Andy out front who’d seen this position in all three races he’d started, but without a win, he was determined to finish his season on a high note! Yeratel was also having a season to forget but he was set for a good result in second. Snow was third with a recovering O’rama 4th but nearly 1/3rd of a lap behind his season rival. He was set for second in the championship this season. The garage 56 car was parked during the night for some slight set up tweaks to see if the car was able to manage the one lap pace of the front running cars built to this seasons spec. It later managed a 2:33.9 which is very respectable. As morning rose the #9 Mustang had a hub failure seeing Randy not finish the race with only 3 laps remaining. It was however a win for Andil which, too many in the paddock, was well deserved! Yera finished a solid 2nd from snow and O’rama. DK was the last car to competitively cross the line in 5th with the Cobra making it across the line last of the classified runners!
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That concluded racing for this season. Expect a season review in next week’s issue!
WSC Total Spa 24hrs Race Classification
GT-P
1. Furinkazen (GBR) – Ford Mk IV (FL 2:17.006)
2. Jammy (FIN) – Ford GT40 Gr.4 (+1:12.094)
3. Ryan (USA) – Ford Mk IV (RET)
4. ChrisJohnson – Jaguar XJ13 (DNS)
GT-O
1. Andil (GBR) – Mercedes 300 SL
2. Yeartel (POR) – Ferrari 250 GTO (+1:10.836)
3. SnowCrash (AUT) – Ferrari 250 GTO (1:24.581)
4. O’rama (GBR) – Ferrari 250 GTB (2:01.836)
5. DriftKing (ROI) – Ferrari 250 GTB (2 Laps)
6. LancerEvo (USA) – Shelby Cobra 427 (8 Laps)
7. RanHammer (USA) – Shelby Mustang (DNF)
8. Ninners (GBR) – Ferrai 250 GTB (DNF)
(FL 2:33.481)
9. Lout (GBR) – Shelby Mustang (DNF)
Hall Of Fame
In a new feature each week we induct an FRL racer into the Hall Of Fame. This week we begin with the very first champion of ToCA, the sometimes controversial, sometime fast, sometime aggressive, and always very vocal
@DK who like him or lathe him has been a cornerstone of the FRL and ToCA since its inception.
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What got you involved in the FRL on GTP?
I really can't remember that well. I remember when there were two classes proposed for the very first season of ToCA, but that never came to fruition. IIRC either the Drider Civic or the Motul Civic were proposed for the second class, and I was hoping to be a "big fish in a small pond". Despite that second class never materialising, I stuck around, and claimed the first two ToCA titles in "Akiko" the OP Altezza and "Asuka" the Atenza.
What is your most memorable race you have had?
Again, my memory fails me. I haven't had any good races in a while, and I've resigned myself to the acknowledgement that my glory days are behind me. I can't really remember that many races, but I remember one win at Monza in the pouring rain way back in season 5/6 - I think I was driving "Haruko" the Jordan-coloured Civic at the time.
Who would you regard as your greatest on track rival?
I might sound like a kiss-ass here, but it was you (
@Furinkazen) for a while, up until about four or five seasons ago. After that it just seemed futile.
What do you think your future prospects are in FRL series?
I don't think I'll be getting back onto the podium unless I invest some serious time and effort into racing with a wheel.
