Yesterday evening was held the 6th and penultimate round of the LFS Endurance Series! Infortunately, after first a date change due to organisation's disponibility, and then a time reduction, not helped by the fact it was a "small vacation" end of week with the Ascent day being held Thursday (some countries like France made it off for the 4 last days of the week), the grid wasn't again at its best attractivity. Only 3 LMP2 and 7 GT3 showed up at the start. In LMP2, Dodislaw had the pole position again... But infortunately, he wasn't here for the race, meaning Jsk was inheriting the pole position. Qualified in 4th and 5th, Owen and System were there 2 others LMP2 on the start. On the GT side, it was ZMaty14Z that had the pole position, 0.2 second ahead of Mazdaratie. SM Racing with S.Martin and E.Harmon were 3rd ahead of NFR Team 1 and its Belgian Brothers duo : Proxima and Geraxi. Cyk was starting 5th, in front of Donald and Nex.
With only 3 cars, the LMP2 fight was sure to be non-existent. But System decided to make the show... For at least one corner. After having a good start at the green flag, he took profit of the small gap to pass Owen and Jsk well helped by the drafting... Approaching the 3rd corner, and despite a "early and careful" braking, the FSR Team's boss infortunately focused too much on his mirrors to not block any of his few opponents... But at that moment, he forgot to take into consideration the lack of grip of the cold tires and had his "derp" momentum, almost ending up in the wall. After being wide into the turn 3, he almost cut up inside the 4th corner, but saved it to rejoin just behind Jsk, but in front of Owen. Jsk obviously took benefit of that to escape on the lead, while Owen was in a stable gap behind System. After the lap 7, we thought we would got anyway a battle for the P2. Indeed, as the LMP2 drivers were already catching up into the GT3 traffic, System was playing it safe inside the traffic. But at the same time, also combined with a little bit of luck, Owen had closed the gap! The chase lasted 4 laps, and then System escaped a bit, but it was at that time Owen lost his rear on the turn 15 and infortunately crashed into the wall, leaving System escaping. Infortunately for the Brasilian driver, it was the same scenario from Fern Bay that happened to him, and more that a couple of laps later, he made another mistake, leaving System to take a important gap (almost a pit stop long). And then? "Status quo" : Jsk lapped the 2 others LMP2, while System managed his gap ahead of Owen and improved his fastest lap. Then it remained calm until lap 84, owen made a little mistake that cost him under 15 seconds, but in lap 87, System decided it was his turn after missing turn 3's braking point, the French driver went straight into the wall into the sand. Luckily for him, the damages weren't that important, and he succeeded to get out of the sand by his own, loosing only less than 30 seconds. And Owen helped him keeping the second place, as he was coming for his penultimate pitstop, the Brasilian driver came in too fast into the pitlane. The stewards decided to give him a drive through penalty, but he didn't made it in time, and the stewards converted it into a 10 seconds stop go penalty... And then, Jsk ended up with style, getting fastest lap time laps after laps, and taking his second consecutive win of the season. System finished in 2nd, 3 laps behind, while Owen in 3rd ended up 4 laps behind.
In GT3, it seemed like that Mazdaratie would have a challenger today, as ZMaty14Z, former Growler Racing driver in LMP2, was on pole position, it was evident the MRc driver would contest the TAM driver for the win! And at the start, S.Martin joined the party by climbing into second in front of the Dutch, who had won the 2 last race in his category. But Mazdaratie only waited a couple of laps to get back to second and try to chase his MRc opponent. Later, into the rare actions, Nex passed his Belgian country mate, Proxima, and then it seemed like the gaps settled... But the NFR Team would pass back before the first serie of GT3s pit stop. And that came by right when the only VSC of the race popped on! Indeed, S.Martin, who was in 3rd, met a puncture when coming into the 3rd corner. The British driver infortunately ended up beached into the 4th corner entry, bringing out the VSC. It's at that time that Mazdaratie decided to play the strategy and pit stopped while ZMaty14Z continued. After the end of the VSC, S.Martin from the last place made his pitstop and gave the wheel to his team mate E.Harmon. And the MRc leader evidently pitted later, giving Mazdaratie the lead of the GT3! At the same time, Proxima was holding into a interesting 3rd place. And he made his pitstop on the 40th lap, leaving the wheel to his brother, Geraxi. Nex infortunately parked his car off the track after a hour and a half due to a technical issue : his VR material infortunately went faulty due to the heat, and he couldn't continue the race. But the drama striked into the GT3 field later! Indeed, Mazdaratie made a infringement with the VSC procedure and didn't respected the speed, as per result he was striked with a drive through penalty, leaving ZMaty14Z back into the lead! He only lost a position into the fact, in 3rd, Cyk and the field were already far behind... Behind Cyk, Donald was holding the 4th, in front of E.Harmon and Geraxi. As in LMP2, the things then went quiet for the next laps except the only driver change happening mid race when S.Martin when back behind the wheel, until on the last pit stop series, Mazdaratie took again the lead for a few laps by pit stopping later. S.Martin was on a mission to climb back to the podium, and he started to pass Donald before doing his pitstop. But the Lituanian driver from GUM Garage pushed his pit stop later, to get the 4th position back, but infortunately for him, that didn't lasted long. S.Martin pulled a impressive gap closure on Cyk into his 3rd place. He even came back under the 5 seconds gap on the last lap, but fortunately for Cyk, he made a mistake, leaving his French opponent on the podium. And ZMaty14Z took the win, and stopped Mazdaratie's impressive serie! The Dutch driver still scores the 2nd position in front of Cyk. Would then follow S.Martin, and Donald to be the last GT3 runner, after Proxima retired for the pits at his 94th lap.
Next and final round of this season will be held in less than a month, for the 29th June, in a Adelaide custom layout, for 650 kms.
With only 3 cars, the LMP2 fight was sure to be non-existent. But System decided to make the show... For at least one corner. After having a good start at the green flag, he took profit of the small gap to pass Owen and Jsk well helped by the drafting... Approaching the 3rd corner, and despite a "early and careful" braking, the FSR Team's boss infortunately focused too much on his mirrors to not block any of his few opponents... But at that moment, he forgot to take into consideration the lack of grip of the cold tires and had his "derp" momentum, almost ending up in the wall. After being wide into the turn 3, he almost cut up inside the 4th corner, but saved it to rejoin just behind Jsk, but in front of Owen. Jsk obviously took benefit of that to escape on the lead, while Owen was in a stable gap behind System. After the lap 7, we thought we would got anyway a battle for the P2. Indeed, as the LMP2 drivers were already catching up into the GT3 traffic, System was playing it safe inside the traffic. But at the same time, also combined with a little bit of luck, Owen had closed the gap! The chase lasted 4 laps, and then System escaped a bit, but it was at that time Owen lost his rear on the turn 15 and infortunately crashed into the wall, leaving System escaping. Infortunately for the Brasilian driver, it was the same scenario from Fern Bay that happened to him, and more that a couple of laps later, he made another mistake, leaving System to take a important gap (almost a pit stop long). And then? "Status quo" : Jsk lapped the 2 others LMP2, while System managed his gap ahead of Owen and improved his fastest lap. Then it remained calm until lap 84, owen made a little mistake that cost him under 15 seconds, but in lap 87, System decided it was his turn after missing turn 3's braking point, the French driver went straight into the wall into the sand. Luckily for him, the damages weren't that important, and he succeeded to get out of the sand by his own, loosing only less than 30 seconds. And Owen helped him keeping the second place, as he was coming for his penultimate pitstop, the Brasilian driver came in too fast into the pitlane. The stewards decided to give him a drive through penalty, but he didn't made it in time, and the stewards converted it into a 10 seconds stop go penalty... And then, Jsk ended up with style, getting fastest lap time laps after laps, and taking his second consecutive win of the season. System finished in 2nd, 3 laps behind, while Owen in 3rd ended up 4 laps behind.
In GT3, it seemed like that Mazdaratie would have a challenger today, as ZMaty14Z, former Growler Racing driver in LMP2, was on pole position, it was evident the MRc driver would contest the TAM driver for the win! And at the start, S.Martin joined the party by climbing into second in front of the Dutch, who had won the 2 last race in his category. But Mazdaratie only waited a couple of laps to get back to second and try to chase his MRc opponent. Later, into the rare actions, Nex passed his Belgian country mate, Proxima, and then it seemed like the gaps settled... But the NFR Team would pass back before the first serie of GT3s pit stop. And that came by right when the only VSC of the race popped on! Indeed, S.Martin, who was in 3rd, met a puncture when coming into the 3rd corner. The British driver infortunately ended up beached into the 4th corner entry, bringing out the VSC. It's at that time that Mazdaratie decided to play the strategy and pit stopped while ZMaty14Z continued. After the end of the VSC, S.Martin from the last place made his pitstop and gave the wheel to his team mate E.Harmon. And the MRc leader evidently pitted later, giving Mazdaratie the lead of the GT3! At the same time, Proxima was holding into a interesting 3rd place. And he made his pitstop on the 40th lap, leaving the wheel to his brother, Geraxi. Nex infortunately parked his car off the track after a hour and a half due to a technical issue : his VR material infortunately went faulty due to the heat, and he couldn't continue the race. But the drama striked into the GT3 field later! Indeed, Mazdaratie made a infringement with the VSC procedure and didn't respected the speed, as per result he was striked with a drive through penalty, leaving ZMaty14Z back into the lead! He only lost a position into the fact, in 3rd, Cyk and the field were already far behind... Behind Cyk, Donald was holding the 4th, in front of E.Harmon and Geraxi. As in LMP2, the things then went quiet for the next laps except the only driver change happening mid race when S.Martin when back behind the wheel, until on the last pit stop series, Mazdaratie took again the lead for a few laps by pit stopping later. S.Martin was on a mission to climb back to the podium, and he started to pass Donald before doing his pitstop. But the Lituanian driver from GUM Garage pushed his pit stop later, to get the 4th position back, but infortunately for him, that didn't lasted long. S.Martin pulled a impressive gap closure on Cyk into his 3rd place. He even came back under the 5 seconds gap on the last lap, but fortunately for Cyk, he made a mistake, leaving his French opponent on the podium. And ZMaty14Z took the win, and stopped Mazdaratie's impressive serie! The Dutch driver still scores the 2nd position in front of Cyk. Would then follow S.Martin, and Donald to be the last GT3 runner, after Proxima retired for the pits at his 94th lap.
Next and final round of this season will be held in less than a month, for the 29th June, in a Adelaide custom layout, for 650 kms.