All-time average speed of RandomCar races is staying around 117km/h,however some races have significantly higher average speed and the round 9 of this season was the 2nd race in row with 130+ average speed - even better,the first race in Aston's Historic configuration clocked the average speed of 141.8km/h which is 2km/h higher than previous highest,achieved year ago in other Aston's fast configuration - National. One might think the race was dominated by high power cars,but the winner actually run an under average powered car,just like most of the top7 finishers. With 24 drivers qualifying this was pretty much averagely attended round,however 2 drivers did not take their spots on grid.
Since his 1st win in round 3,TJ has been winning every 2nd race and from schedule this supposed to be his 4th win and the brazilian did not dissapoint the numerologists as he was fastest through both sessions. He received RB4 for the 1st time in the league and earned for the default LFS car it's 6th pole position during qualifying,while in the race he pulled away 1.1 seconds per lap on average to finish as race winner with over 12 seconds gap over competition,scoring his 4th RandomCar race win,tying J.Holmes for all time most. Both other podium spots were taken by MZG Sedan drivers - Thehemuli was slightly better one in this race,finishing 2nd just 0.39s ahead of his rival of the day Trespasser,for both drivers it was 2nd podium finish in row.
With 8 best scores counting towards drivers championship,previous leader Thehemuli could only improve his worst score in round 9,so his points gain was smaller than race winner's - with this TJ slips into table lead and is now 3 points ahead of Thehemuli,however effectivelly it can be considered as 15 points lead as TJ has only 7 scores so far,meaning his last round result will go fully into total count while Thehemuli can only add to total a points count over his current 2nd best score of 12 points - that means the finn has to finish at least 8 positions higher than TJ (or 1 less if he takes pole position or 2nd place in qualifying). Also previous standings leader R.Kardol is in similar situation - he's 16 points behind and needs to finish at least 8 positions ahead of TJ,but requires at least 1 bonus point to pass him in points. In theory a total of 7 drivers are still eligible for drivers championship,but the lower positioned 4 need very low scoring round from current leader and most of their rivals.
After taking the lead 1 round ago,the defending champions Born to Race extended their lead in teams championship by 5 points to reach 17 points gap before season finale - with double points scoring round ahead that is not a big lead,however S1dus have to find good finishing points for the final round to turn the situation around in favor for themselves. Yes Motorsports advanced themselves 2 positions and are now the new 3rd position in table - top5 teams are still in race for championship,but the bottom 3 are obvious outsiders. Before season finale the defending 2-time nations champions Finland leads their usual rivals Lithuania by 50 points,so only a disaster can deny their title defence,no other nation is eligible for championship - Poland keeps stable 3rd position and has good chances to secure it. Cars do not score double points in season finale,therefor the 9 points lead in standings (only 4 best scores count) of XRT seems pretty much undeletable for their closest rival Acosta Starlin,Fraud Wheeler's 3rd position however is anything than secured.
24 different cars were drawn for this round,but only 15 were actually used. Most drawn is still Acosta Starlin,receiving it's 58th draw in this round - also Talot got just a single draw to reach 55,which is 2nd most. RB4 was the only car with more than 2 draws - all 3 RB4 were classified in qualifying results.
Not a single driver was able to improve previous best result of any car,however there were 2 drivers with repetitions - TJ's 1st position in both sessions with RB4 and Thehemuli's 2nd position in qualifying with MZG. But there was other significant improvement for one car - TJ's 11 race lead laps put RB4 in top of the all time most laps led table,surpassing the URC1,which led it since the 2nd ever race of the league - interestingly RB4 was the initial leader after inaugural race.
The race winner is locked out from track selection,so it has been relayed to 2nd place finisher,who has the honor to select it for season finale once again - Thehemuli did the same in 1st season,selecting Westhill North custom racetrack,not available for this selection though. However the finn still hasn't replied his selection and has time until end of this week.