by the OWRL Correspondent
Season 10 Div A was all about four dominant drivers – IRT boys Papafant and Andy (GER), ELR’s Grandlhuber and the champion R4R (now ^P^) Storm_Cloud. With Papafant and Grandlhuber leaving the series for Season 11 surely it would be just Andy and Storm sharing out the spoils, right?
Wrong!
A new season has brought new drivers into the series and there are some quick ones. The outstanding new driver so far is spdo Firedup. He’s hardly a rookie having raced in OWRL since season 5 aswell as other leagues like GFC and the Dutch league. Impressively, he has been right at the sharp end finishing each session (qualifying and races) in the top 3 and he is hunting down the old warhorses Andy and Storm in the table.
Other quick drivers have arrived and shown great speed. Matze78 showed an impressive 4th place finish in the first race and virtual.Roedii arrived for the second race at Fern Bay and could have won on his debut.
Race 1 – Aston National
The first race of the season saw IRT Andy (GER) dominate with pole position and a lights to flag win. The real hero though was spdo Firedup, who despite opting for a non-stop strategy in the 45 lap race still managed to hang with the leaders early on. He may have even retained the lead after Andy’s pitstop but for a small mistake. He was then cruelly robbed of 2nd place on the final lap as his worn tyres couldn’t give him the traction he needed allowing ^P^ Storm_Cloud to nip through at the hairpins. FPR Matze78 debuted with a 4th place, with fellow new boys GFC Myxin, NWRT Veter and ^P^ Adam5k in 6th, 9th and 13th places.
Race 2 – Fern Bay Black Reverse
The usual suspects were joined at the front by debutant virtual.Roedii for the second round after he joined Division A thanks to OWRL opening up the qualifying criteria slightly. That looked like a great decision as he saw off pole sitter Andy and moved into an early lead. It all looked good for him until he made a mistake on lap 27 and was unable to continue. This gave a first OWRL Division A win to spdo Firedup who cruised in well ahead of ^P^ Storm_Cloud and IRT Andy (GER). GFC Myxin and Aaron NI rounded out the top 5.
Race 3 – Kyoto National
The only strategy for this 49 lap race was to go non-stop as the pitlane is so long at the Japanese venue. The only question was would the tyres last? Pod.hama Pio didn’t think so and he went for a 1 stopper and stunned everyone by going from 8th to 3rd by turn 1! He also took a turn at the front during a very open race that was won by ^P^ Storm_Cloud, who just had enough tyres and suspension left to hold off IRT Andy (GER) by 2 seconds. spdo Firedup matched his Aston result in 3rd, with mb Andre Louis showing strongly in 4th. pod.hama Pio’s pitstop strategy saw him fall to 5th at the end and Aaron NI continued a consistent start to the season with 6th place.
With the top 3 drivers locking out the podium in all three races so far it looks like a dogfight for the title between the multiple former champion IRT Andy (GER), current champion ^P^ Storm_Cloud and spdo Firedup. 4th place is also wide open with Aaron NI sitting there at the moment, but there are some quick drivers who should have a lot more points by now who will be looking for a high finish.
Watch the races on LFS Remote live on Saturday evenings or download the replays from www.owrl.de (registration required). This season’s going to go right down to the wire!
Standings Div A
Division B
It might be called Division B, but there’s nothing second rate about the driver line up in the smaller class of OWRL. FPR Chris, IRT drivers Relax, Der Dude and Mardox, DSR’s Sizzle and Al Payson, Core Forbin and spdo Define have all been fighting for the top points in the first three races. New patch, new car (the Formula BMW), but the fast drivers are still fast and the action is still frantic!
Race 1 – Aston National
FPR Chris took a double win at the first round, keeping IRT Mardox at bay in the first race before in the main race taking 6 laps to fight through a big battle at the front involving NWRT Knu, Core Forbin, IRT Mardox and spdo Define. Spdo Define was helped in his fight through to 2nd when IRT Mardox and Core Forbin collided at the final chicane on lap 7.
Race 2 – Fern Bay Gold
The Division B boys used a different track to the FO8 class for Race 2 using the classic FOX favourite Fern Bay Gold. Would it be as good in the FBM? You bet! A typical crash packed first lap of the B1 sprint race saw DSR Sizzle, IRT Mardox and AR LawVS get clear of the field early on. They held their advantage to the line and DSR Sizzle made up for his disappointing evening at Aston National by taking a comfortable win in the main race, but not before having to fight from 8th on the grid. Most of his passes were classic Fern Bay Gold – up the inside into the hairpin, although he even manage to overtake FPR Pio on the outside for 2nd.
Race 3 – KY National
FPR Chris was back after missing Race 2, but he could turn a good qualifying (2nd to spdo MarcG) into the win. Spdo MarcG in his first FBM race of the season crossed the line 1st in the sprint race but was given a 5 second penalty for chatting – handing the win to IRT Der Dude. DSR Sizzle backed up his strong showing at Fern Bay with 3rd place. Spdo MarcG put things right in the main race with a dominant win ahead of FPR Chris and DSR Al Payson.
DSR Sizzle leads the standings from IRT Relax. Although we haven’t seen the German former Division A champion on the podium so far this season he has been very consistent and finished well in all the races. DSR Al Payson is 54 points behind in 3rd place. FPR Chris is very high up despite missing one race and he must also be in with a chance of the championship. In fact, with 100 points up for grabs in each race the championship is still wide open, unlike their next track – South City chicane.
Standings Div B
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