The opening round of the 2010 GT Amateur League saw the teams, like last season, made the trip to the tricky reverse configuration of Blackwood's Grand Prix circuit. In the week leading up to the race, two qualifying sessions took place which saw debutants Triple 7 and CoRe Racing take the top 2 spots in the Sunday session, with drivers Tommy Østgaard and Kenneth O'Keefe at the wheel of the respective cars. Østgaard's best laptime of 1:10.50 in the FZR was 0.27s ahead of the CoRe XRR, who narrowly held onto second place after the Lublin Racing Team equalled th ... fort in Friday qualifying.
When the teams returned the next day for the race, the conditions were somewhat different to qualifying and much of practice. The track had a lot of cloud cover, and with it a breeze which made the downhill turns 1 and 3 tricky. Formation wasn't the best as the cars came up the main straight, but the green flag was waved regardless, organisers mindful of the two aborted starts in a pre-season test race. CoRe Racing got the jump on the polesitter at the green flag, later ruled to be a fasle start and a drive-through was the penalty, but the top 3 of CoRe, Triple 7 and Sonicrealms got away for now.
Behind, the Race Sim Radicals FXR took advantage of the sloppy formation and some cars slow to react to the green flag to make its way up from 17th to 8th before turn 1. However RSR's Myers got too greedy and ended making contact, causing cars to spin and take avoiding action; Myers made it through unscathed but would later fall back and ultimately received a stop-go penalty for his part in the accident.
Sonicrealms would be caught as they ran wide out of turn 4 a few laps in, losing four positions but on the next lap they would lose even more, tapped into a spin at the final corner by the ZION team, which put SR down to 27th position and out of contention. Battles aplenty ensued throughout the field, as Triple 7 fell back into the clutches of 4 Stroke Racing Team and n!faculty. CoRe's drive-through came 40 minutes in, and the field spread allowed them to come back out in second behind Michal Saidl of 4SRT, who was keeping up an excellent pace.
The turning point in the race came just before the hour mark, when the Safety Car made its first appearance of the season, Sim Racing Society upending themselves after going into the barriers at the chicane - a sad end to their final GTAL race as they would later pull out of the series. Saidl's pace would come at cost of increased front tyre wear, which gave him a puncture, but confusion over a pit exit status message despite a clarification from the Race Director meant 4 Stroke Racing Team stayed out, losing track position. O'Keefe, just behind Saidl, was about to pit but changed his mind when he saw the leader carry on.
None of the top teams would pit at the first opportunity, which meant they restarted behind a couple of cars who didn't pit and lapped traffic. This would ultimately cost 4 Stroke Racing Team and CoRe Racing the chance of victory as the two collided at turn 1, 4SRT's second driver Kerekes receiving a DT penalty and getting stuck in the gravel for over 45 seconds, while CoRe hit the wall which meant they had to make their way through the entire train of cars.
McKowen for Triple 7 made a break away from the chasing pack while those behind worked their way through the traffic, the lead peaking at 6 seconds; though Leisterer of n!faculty did manage to close the gap to only a few seconds come the end of the second hour and the pitstops. Østgaard took the car for the final hour for Triple 7 Racing, Schnieders doing the final stint for n!faculty and they emerged from the pits nose to tail, though a car attempting to unlap itself and a mistake from the German widened the gap again.
In the end, it would be Østgaard who finished the job he started a week ago, as he held off a closing Schnieders to take the flag with just under two seconds in hand, Santos making it an all-debut podium at Blackwood for round 1 of the 2010 GT Amateur League. Serbian Chromed Pistons recovered well from a spin in the opening corner incident and a drive-through for overtaking under the Safety Car to take fourth, with Conquest Racing being lapped on the line in fifth. A tale of what ifs for some, many ruing their bad fortune, others making their own luck.
The next round of the championship sees the competitors travel to Kyoto GP Long with the "Boothy chicane", used as a Masters of Endurance venue - so well known to the competing MoE teams and a track to learn for the those aspiring to take part at a higher level - and will take place on Saturday 12th December at 1800 UTC, with qualifying on the previous Sunday and Friday evenings.
When the teams returned the next day for the race, the conditions were somewhat different to qualifying and much of practice. The track had a lot of cloud cover, and with it a breeze which made the downhill turns 1 and 3 tricky. Formation wasn't the best as the cars came up the main straight, but the green flag was waved regardless, organisers mindful of the two aborted starts in a pre-season test race. CoRe Racing got the jump on the polesitter at the green flag, later ruled to be a fasle start and a drive-through was the penalty, but the top 3 of CoRe, Triple 7 and Sonicrealms got away for now.Behind, the Race Sim Radicals FXR took advantage of the sloppy formation and some cars slow to react to the green flag to make its way up from 17th to 8th before turn 1. However RSR's Myers got too greedy and ended making contact, causing cars to spin and take avoiding action; Myers made it through unscathed but would later fall back and ultimately received a stop-go penalty for his part in the accident.
Sonicrealms would be caught as they ran wide out of turn 4 a few laps in, losing four positions but on the next lap they would lose even more, tapped into a spin at the final corner by the ZION team, which put SR down to 27th position and out of contention. Battles aplenty ensued throughout the field, as Triple 7 fell back into the clutches of 4 Stroke Racing Team and n!faculty. CoRe's drive-through came 40 minutes in, and the field spread allowed them to come back out in second behind Michal Saidl of 4SRT, who was keeping up an excellent pace.
The turning point in the race came just before the hour mark, when the Safety Car made its first appearance of the season, Sim Racing Society upending themselves after going into the barriers at the chicane - a sad end to their final GTAL race as they would later pull out of the series. Saidl's pace would come at cost of increased front tyre wear, which gave him a puncture, but confusion over a pit exit status message despite a clarification from the Race Director meant 4 Stroke Racing Team stayed out, losing track position. O'Keefe, just behind Saidl, was about to pit but changed his mind when he saw the leader carry on.
None of the top teams would pit at the first opportunity, which meant they restarted behind a couple of cars who didn't pit and lapped traffic. This would ultimately cost 4 Stroke Racing Team and CoRe Racing the chance of victory as the two collided at turn 1, 4SRT's second driver Kerekes receiving a DT penalty and getting stuck in the gravel for over 45 seconds, while CoRe hit the wall which meant they had to make their way through the entire train of cars.
McKowen for Triple 7 made a break away from the chasing pack while those behind worked their way through the traffic, the lead peaking at 6 seconds; though Leisterer of n!faculty did manage to close the gap to only a few seconds come the end of the second hour and the pitstops. Østgaard took the car for the final hour for Triple 7 Racing, Schnieders doing the final stint for n!faculty and they emerged from the pits nose to tail, though a car attempting to unlap itself and a mistake from the German widened the gap again.
In the end, it would be Østgaard who finished the job he started a week ago, as he held off a closing Schnieders to take the flag with just under two seconds in hand, Santos making it an all-debut podium at Blackwood for round 1 of the 2010 GT Amateur League. Serbian Chromed Pistons recovered well from a spin in the opening corner incident and a drive-through for overtaking under the Safety Car to take fourth, with Conquest Racing being lapped on the line in fifth. A tale of what ifs for some, many ruing their bad fortune, others making their own luck.
The next round of the championship sees the competitors travel to Kyoto GP Long with the "Boothy chicane", used as a Masters of Endurance venue - so well known to the competing MoE teams and a track to learn for the those aspiring to take part at a higher level - and will take place on Saturday 12th December at 1800 UTC, with qualifying on the previous Sunday and Friday evenings.