It was another incredible race at Retro Cup this season, with one of the most dramatic race starts you'll ever see. Let's dive right into it!

Relive the race on SBTV!

THE STORY OF THE RACE

LMP1

The start of the race was so dramatic that even the best Hollywood screenplayer wouldn't have been able to write what happened between the start and Corner 2.

For poleman [MRC]Sufor, S.Martin and ZFRL Thehemuli the start was clean, but right behind, RG^Rony misjudged the distance from the LMP2 car of SIMOX, sending him into a spin and causing a devastating chain of events, culminated with Rony being sent 50 feet up into the air by the other LMP1 car of Dark.

But we got even more drama out of Turn 1, with Thehemuli and Sufor crossing their racing lines out of the corner, ending up by tangling each other into the inside wall.

S.Martin couldn't believe his luck, as he flew solo into the lead of the race, and mantained such position for nearly half the race!

But Thehemuli and Sufor never gave up the hunt for the win: they both put down a stunning race pace, catching back to the leader lap afte lap, and eventually merging into a LMP1 trio on Lap 15.

A three way scrap began, with Thehemuli and Sufor both passing S.Martin, then starting their own battle, second chapter of the epicness we saw in Autocross Retro.

But this time, Thehemuli showed why he's reigning champion: he answered to all Sufor's attacks first, then executed his race strategy perfectly, while Suforr extended his race stint too much, while commiting some mistakes around the course.

A long pit stop for damage forced Suforr to push even more as soon as he got out of the pits, in the hunt for Thehemuli, but the spanish driver started over-driving, and damaged the car again, needing other pit-stops.

S.Martin benefited from it, as he jumped in P2, while Thehemuli crossed the finish line at the top, first win of the season for the finnish champion!

Suforr still managed to finish P3 despite his second stint troubles: RG^Rony recovered to a P5 after his nightmare start, while ZFRL LG^Mies ended up P6 in what was another troublesome race for the finn.

S1DUS Unite started from the back of the field and managed to jump back towards the top position, but a crash ended his hopes for a good result and, maybe, the fight for the championship.






LMP2

J.Cooper VS Mazdarati: this battle was in the air since the early practice on the Blackwood Outskirts circuit, but it materialized in glorious fashion coming race day.

The get go was dramatic: RG^Rony's massive start crash took out of the competition [SKULL] SIMOX, who was sent into a spin and into damage, while RG^Lorenzo was forced to start from the back due to technical difficulties.

At the front, the battle started right from the beginning, with the Wessex of J.Cooper taking P1 on the Beta of Mazdarati at the end of Lap 1.

The Wessex driver was able to pull away in the straights, while Mazdarati was flying in the corners, making for a very interesting battle between the two.

J.Cooper managed to extend his advantage to around 5-6 seconds in the first stint, but Mazdarati's pace came back in full potential towards the latter part of the race, as his Beta was getting lighter and lighter on fuel.

The two merged together again in the last 10 laps of the race, and it was a spectacle: Mazdarati tried to pull off moves in every corner of the circuit, but J.Cooper kept his head and blood cool, not making a single mistake under pressure.

At the end, it was the first, historic race win for J.Cooper in his iconic yellow LMP2, in front of Mazdarati who's now the big title favourite.

A battle for P3 was shaping up as well in the first quarter of the race, with RG^Lorenzo closing on the back of SIMOX, but both encountered other issues that prevented the on-track battle.

SIMOX retired after 75% of the race, still collecting some points, while RG^Lorenzo managed to keep it clean after another technical trouble, bringing the car to P3.







GROUP 5

The Group 5 field was shook by the massive start incident that saw Rony flying 50 meters up in the air: Pole sitter [SyN] C.Tawn and [MRC] TimDC managed to avoid the incident showing all their skills.

[MRC] JSK also managed to survive the crash by flying blind into a smoke of dust, but behind [MRC] Andrieh had zero time to react on the spinning LMP1 car of Dark. He collected it and smashed hard into the outside wall.

Terminal damage for him, who retired out of the race.

At the front, a close trio formed with C.Tawn followed by the two Master Race cars of TimDC and JSK, but the latter soon entered in troubles, as he started to struggle to match the leaders pace.

He soon retired from the race out of frustration, while in front C.Tawn started to put down the hammer on TimDC, who couldn't match his pace.

C.Tawn is showing race after race that he's the real deal: he was there or therabout on pace with LFS alien Gabor in race 1 before he was involved in the start crash, but now he's showing his potential.

The gap between him and TimDC extended lap by lap, and it was more than a lap before teh end of the race.

It's the second win of the season for C.Tawn, who's now the big Group 5 favourite as we reach the midpoint of the championship.
P2 on track for TimDC, who can now hope to become one of the main class conteders.










GROUP 4

Once again, Group 4 proved to be one of the most exciting and spectacular classes on track.

Very rich and depth field again in Blackwood Outskirts, with YES Sobis taking a great pole position ahead of Kyr1l and [SYN]Hiwatt, while championship leader [TC-R]Adam struggled in P4.

A sign for a great spectacle to come: the leading group marched close for the first few laps, of the race, with Sobis leading the charge, but it didn't take long until Adam started to get the right feel on the track and on the car.

He soon passed Hiwatt, and launched himself in the hunt for Sobis, and it didn't take long until the championship leader caught the YES driver.
The two entered in what was one of the best battles of the season so far, with great moves all around, including a spectacular switch-back overtake by Adam on Turn 1.

Sobis managed to held off the [TC-R] ace for a good amount of laps, but at the end the superior pace of Adam meant it was impossible for Sobis to hold him off much longer.

Adam took the lead and never lost it again, showing once again a stunning race pace and a perfect handling of the Group 4 car.
Three victories in a row for the [TC-R] superstar, who's now clearly the man to beat this season.

Sobis finishes P2 a very good race, ahead of [SyN]Hiwatt, who never really managed to hunt down the second position.

Kamileon and Tomus completes the Top 5 with two solid races, while RG^Redbot safely completes his first Retro Cup 26 race, ending up in P6.








ROAD CLASS

The road class field found themselves into huge trouble at the start of the race, when they had to avoid flying cars and rolling bodies all the way into the racing line.

Thankfully, the whole Road Class field managed to get through safely, with YES Trespasser leading the class ahead of newcomer Lilith, RG^M@CI3K and Madjester after the first few corners.

M@CI3K and Madjester managed to pass the rookie Lilith soon, and launched themselves in the hunt for Trespasser, who missed last round.

Depiste not feeling 100% comfortable with the car, Trespasser started to create a little gap on the closest competitor, RG^M@CI3k, who still managed to keep the leader always in his sight.

The Race Green porsche whisperer and championship leader once again showed good pace, as he hunted Trespasser for the whole distance of the race, often staying under the 2-3 seconds.

Behind, it was drama for Madjester, who was forced to park is Piran Firefly at the side of the track for long minutes, while rookie Lilith lost connection shortly after.

At the end, Trespasser takes his second great victory of the season, ahead of RG^M@CI3k, just a few seconds off.
This could be the battle for the title this season:

P3 at the end for Madjester, who managed to complete the race after the technical troubles.

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER 3 RACES

RELIVE THE RACE FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

NEXT ROUND ON MONDAY NOVEMBER 9th!

Next time around, our Retro Cup Paddock will move to Jamaica for the fourth round of the season.

Hot weather, nice drinks and a spectacular race circuit, one of the fastest and most dangerous of the season at Fern Bay Retro.

A complete challenge, with fast corners, chicanes, a slow technical section and a big JUMP in the main straight!
It will be a photographer's paradise!

See you on Monday, November 9th, you just can't miss it!

As usual, a TEST RACE is planned the week before the official round, on Monday November 2nd!

Follow all the updates on RACE GREEN DISCORD!