The second round was held at the Kyoto National Reversed circuit. The track is smaller than Aston GP which would lead to many blue flag situations with 25 drivers, especially in the first qualifying. Nonetheless sixteen drivers were within one second in Q1, with Adam Wisniewski leading the pack. He and his teammate Mantas Brazinskas were alongside with both drivers of Sonicrealms Racing, Raptor-Gaming and Green and Yellow F1 Racing Team. The Top 10 for Q2 were completed by Tariq Gamil and Quentin Benoît, the winner of the season opener.
In Q2 the cars were filled with the amount of fuel they intended to start the race with. Lucas Araújo got pole-position in front of both SPDO racing drivers with Wisniewski in front of Brazinskas, followed by Benoit. Looking at the start everyone was focused on the turn where the grid leaves the oval part. That turn becomes narrow and is a dangerous spot at the start, but with the race lasting for sixty laps there would be enough time to compensate an incident at the start.
Wisniewski had a good start and when Araújo didn’t close the door, he got the lead in the first turn. Benoît and Brazinskas behind hit each other slightly, but luckily they didn’t spin. Christian Rauch of Raptor-Gaming took advantage of that and got position three. Araújo was behind Wisniewski and hit him slightly, then jerked the steering wheel around and hit the wall, rejoining as eleventh in turn two without crashing into another car. During that incident Rauch also overtook Brazinskas. Meanwhile Isaac Price of Tiger Express Motorsports broke too late for turn two and crashed into Rob Logtenberg and his teammate András Szabó and before that Pasi Juvani and Jarl Teien exchanged paint. In the braking zone Erwin Caffé had to avoid his teammate of the 1stBFA Racing Team Lars Ole Storhaug and steers in the way of Teien. Caffé spins onto the grass and hits Araújo who just recovered from his spin. A big pile-up follows that involves Anton Moroz, Adrian Bakaj and a flipped car of Matt Maslen. One turn later Gamil spun Hopkins who was able to continue, but he dropped from eighth to seventeenth.
Benoit was overtaken by Sascha Riegler but had success with a counter attack for fourth position. After a rather chaotic start of the race the drivers calmed down until the beginning of lap three when eight drivers were fighting for position in a group. Juvani as sixth was their leader, followed by Kaique Piropo of the Green and Yellow F1 Racing Team, who pushed Gamil while braking for turn four into Patrick Kreutz, Araújo, Wójcik and Teien were directly behind them, couldn’t drive around the cars and were sent off the track as well. Markus Gomel slipped just between them to win five positions in one turn, behind them his teammate Wasti Wohlmann was hit by Hopkins, which forced both to retire. Araújo and Piropo also had to retire a few laps later with damaged cars.
Christian Rauch lost a few places and dropped to sixth while Benoît was now second after overtaking Brazinskas. Gamil was the first at the pits in lap 11 for repairing his damaged car, by that time Wisniewski was already ten seconds in front of Benoît, who stopped one lap earlier than Brazinskas, who took advantage of a lighter car and didn’t change his tyres that saved him enough time to stay in front of Benoît after the first stop. The same strategy worked for Riegler against Juvani, although getting passed by the latter a few laps before the pit stop. Riegler pitted in lap twenty-six, only beaten by Szabó and Caffé who pitted at halftime. Caffé was fifth before his stop, Szabó was lapped right at the start after being involved in a start crash. The third battle that was decided in pits was between Storhaug, Bakaj and Wójcik. While Bakaj was losing ground after his stop, his teammate Wójcik had to repair damage and fell behind Storhaug after the first set of pit stops.
Wisniewski was clearly in the lead, followed by Brazinskas who had Benoît in his neck after a little mistake, Juvani on fifth got rid of Rauch after a mistake by him but also got overtaken by Teien. Kreutz and Storhaug were in a fight for seventh, Gamil in a battle with Wójcik and after losing against him he went to his second pit stop. He rejoined just behind Rauch who had a very long second stop. Both were outside of the points, but a retiring Teien and a second pit stop of Bakaj gave Rauch and Gamil positions nine and ten. Caffé was behind them after making a mistake as well, but Gamil had to retire in the final laps that gave Caffé the last point in this race as tenth behind Rauch.
Leader Wisniewski was still leading after his second stop, followed by Riegler, who had one stop remaining. Brazinskas went two laps before Benoît to the pits, but couldn’t make the gap to Benoît bigger and therefore he had to hand second place to Benoît a few laps after their pit stops. Riegler had a fast second pit stop and rejoined just a few seconds behind Brazinskas, but he received a Stop&Go penalty for speeding in the pitlane that made it impossible for him to challenge Benoît or Brazinskas for a spot on a podium, but his fourth position was safe. That made most of the positions inside the points clear, but between fifth and eighth it was a thrilling finish.
Juvani was fifth until three laps were left, when he spun in the final chicane after getting stuck on the curbs. Kreutz inherited fifth and Wójcik also won a position, but Wójcik wasn’t satisfied with that and huinted down Kreutz, who got a puncture in the penultimate lap. While Wójcik was on his way to secure fifth and Kreutz driving safely with three working tyres to finish sixth Juvani got under pressure by Storhaug and with one final move just before the finish line, Storhaug beat Juvani in a battle for position seven by one tenth of a second after 80 minutes of racing.
Benoît could increase his lead now in the Driver’s Championship and also his team Redline Racing with Juvani could take the lead in the Team’s Championship in front of SPDO Racing, who overtook with 40 points on this round Raptor-Gaming. The next race will hardly feature the same racing action like this race, but on South City Long constancy is required even more than sopeed. With a break of three weeks a solid preparation is possible and on 15 May we will see, who will survive in the streets of South City.
Q1 | Q2 | Race
Standings (Clear your cache if necessary)
Replay Race (members only)
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Full screenshots at owrl.de
In Q2 the cars were filled with the amount of fuel they intended to start the race with. Lucas Araújo got pole-position in front of both SPDO racing drivers with Wisniewski in front of Brazinskas, followed by Benoit. Looking at the start everyone was focused on the turn where the grid leaves the oval part. That turn becomes narrow and is a dangerous spot at the start, but with the race lasting for sixty laps there would be enough time to compensate an incident at the start.
Wisniewski had a good start and when Araújo didn’t close the door, he got the lead in the first turn. Benoît and Brazinskas behind hit each other slightly, but luckily they didn’t spin. Christian Rauch of Raptor-Gaming took advantage of that and got position three. Araújo was behind Wisniewski and hit him slightly, then jerked the steering wheel around and hit the wall, rejoining as eleventh in turn two without crashing into another car. During that incident Rauch also overtook Brazinskas. Meanwhile Isaac Price of Tiger Express Motorsports broke too late for turn two and crashed into Rob Logtenberg and his teammate András Szabó and before that Pasi Juvani and Jarl Teien exchanged paint. In the braking zone Erwin Caffé had to avoid his teammate of the 1stBFA Racing Team Lars Ole Storhaug and steers in the way of Teien. Caffé spins onto the grass and hits Araújo who just recovered from his spin. A big pile-up follows that involves Anton Moroz, Adrian Bakaj and a flipped car of Matt Maslen. One turn later Gamil spun Hopkins who was able to continue, but he dropped from eighth to seventeenth.
Benoit was overtaken by Sascha Riegler but had success with a counter attack for fourth position. After a rather chaotic start of the race the drivers calmed down until the beginning of lap three when eight drivers were fighting for position in a group. Juvani as sixth was their leader, followed by Kaique Piropo of the Green and Yellow F1 Racing Team, who pushed Gamil while braking for turn four into Patrick Kreutz, Araújo, Wójcik and Teien were directly behind them, couldn’t drive around the cars and were sent off the track as well. Markus Gomel slipped just between them to win five positions in one turn, behind them his teammate Wasti Wohlmann was hit by Hopkins, which forced both to retire. Araújo and Piropo also had to retire a few laps later with damaged cars.
Christian Rauch lost a few places and dropped to sixth while Benoît was now second after overtaking Brazinskas. Gamil was the first at the pits in lap 11 for repairing his damaged car, by that time Wisniewski was already ten seconds in front of Benoît, who stopped one lap earlier than Brazinskas, who took advantage of a lighter car and didn’t change his tyres that saved him enough time to stay in front of Benoît after the first stop. The same strategy worked for Riegler against Juvani, although getting passed by the latter a few laps before the pit stop. Riegler pitted in lap twenty-six, only beaten by Szabó and Caffé who pitted at halftime. Caffé was fifth before his stop, Szabó was lapped right at the start after being involved in a start crash. The third battle that was decided in pits was between Storhaug, Bakaj and Wójcik. While Bakaj was losing ground after his stop, his teammate Wójcik had to repair damage and fell behind Storhaug after the first set of pit stops.
Wisniewski was clearly in the lead, followed by Brazinskas who had Benoît in his neck after a little mistake, Juvani on fifth got rid of Rauch after a mistake by him but also got overtaken by Teien. Kreutz and Storhaug were in a fight for seventh, Gamil in a battle with Wójcik and after losing against him he went to his second pit stop. He rejoined just behind Rauch who had a very long second stop. Both were outside of the points, but a retiring Teien and a second pit stop of Bakaj gave Rauch and Gamil positions nine and ten. Caffé was behind them after making a mistake as well, but Gamil had to retire in the final laps that gave Caffé the last point in this race as tenth behind Rauch.
Leader Wisniewski was still leading after his second stop, followed by Riegler, who had one stop remaining. Brazinskas went two laps before Benoît to the pits, but couldn’t make the gap to Benoît bigger and therefore he had to hand second place to Benoît a few laps after their pit stops. Riegler had a fast second pit stop and rejoined just a few seconds behind Brazinskas, but he received a Stop&Go penalty for speeding in the pitlane that made it impossible for him to challenge Benoît or Brazinskas for a spot on a podium, but his fourth position was safe. That made most of the positions inside the points clear, but between fifth and eighth it was a thrilling finish.
Juvani was fifth until three laps were left, when he spun in the final chicane after getting stuck on the curbs. Kreutz inherited fifth and Wójcik also won a position, but Wójcik wasn’t satisfied with that and huinted down Kreutz, who got a puncture in the penultimate lap. While Wójcik was on his way to secure fifth and Kreutz driving safely with three working tyres to finish sixth Juvani got under pressure by Storhaug and with one final move just before the finish line, Storhaug beat Juvani in a battle for position seven by one tenth of a second after 80 minutes of racing.
Benoît could increase his lead now in the Driver’s Championship and also his team Redline Racing with Juvani could take the lead in the Team’s Championship in front of SPDO Racing, who overtook with 40 points on this round Raptor-Gaming. The next race will hardly feature the same racing action like this race, but on South City Long constancy is required even more than sopeed. With a break of three weeks a solid preparation is possible and on 15 May we will see, who will survive in the streets of South City.
Q1 | Q2 | Race
Standings (Clear your cache if necessary)
Replay Race (members only)
XciteTV On-Demand
Full screenshots at owrl.de