After a long break of three weeks the drivers headed to South City to score some points at the Long circuit of the track. The race is the longest of the season and is one of the highly expected races of the season, just like the Monaco GP, with the exception that overtaking is possible here. Quentin Benoît, the current leader of the World Championship, was looking to keep his lead against the current champion Adam Wisniewski, who was on a roll in the past South City races.
Again Jarl Teien was the fastest driver in the first qualifying. A few new drivers showed up in the rankings of this race due to different circumstances: For the Green and Yellow Racing Team Leandro Krissak replaced Marlon Göese who still had technical problems, Christian Felder took the seat of Peter Hopkins at the Sonicrealms Racing Team, Jorge Bento at the Its All About Speed Team and Carsten Hörenbaum took part for Raptor-Gaming. Except Bento all of them made it into the second qualifying where the drivers have to drive their car in racing conditions, which means a lot of fuel and race setup. Many drivers set their fastest time at the beginning of the session that saw Wisniewski on pole-position for the first time this year, followed by Riegler, Felder and the current championship leader Benoît. The other drivers didn’t have much luck in their runs that gave them only one fast lap, Krissak had additional problems as his setup wasn’t the right one, so he had to start from the pits.
While the top three made no sudden moves at the beginning of the long race, Teien took a look at the inside line against Benoît before turn two. Behind them was Hörenbaum was on his way out of their slip stream when both cars in front of him hit the brakes. Hörenbaum hit Teien, both spun and left no other choice for Araújo to hit the wall. Gamil had to slow down and got a hit by Wójcik, who also got a hit by András Szabó. Meanwhile Matt and Ian Maslen are stuck at Teiens car that was standing crosswise to the racing line. Lims Chebbi and Jorge Bento benefitted from that accident and found themselves on positions five and six after starting in row six. At the end of lap one both drivers of Team Egypt were in the top ten with position eight for Gamil and Zeyad Abou-Eita on ninth. However Gamil had to serve a drive-through penalty at the end of the second lap for an incident at last race, after that he was in eighteenth position. Teien had lots of work to do in the first lap when Ian Maslen also wanted to pass him in turn fifteen., but Maslen hit him slightly in the rear that robbed him of his speed for the following straight and opened the door for him and for Wójcik as well, but the matter couldn’t find a way past Teien.
The top four consisting of Wisniewski, Riegler, Felder and Benoît could open the gap to fifth-placed Chebbi, who did a magnificent job in keeping his position against Hörenbaum, Bento and Storhaug, who were all faster than him. But after lap five his defence collapsed and one by one they made it past him, before Chebbi got back into a rhythm on ninth. At the front Wisniewski could increase his lead by approximately ten seconds in front of Riegler and Felder before their first pit stops, with the later being the last one at the pits, but due to a mistake by him prior to his pit stop he couldn’t get past his teammate. Benoit followed by another five seconds, but after his pit stop he couldn’t keep the pace of the three at the front and found himself on fourth position from now on, safely separated from the top three and fifth-placed Carsten Hörenbaum, who shared his fate after Araújo and Teien who had to pit earlier than expected. Both fought hard to get back into the positions they started the race, but shortly after that they had to pit, leaving both of them outside the points. Teien had to retire after a third of the race, Araújo followed after the next third. Another driver who suffered a heavy time loss at the beginning of the race was Tariq Gamil, who was already on tenth before the first pit stops, but technical problems forced him to retire as well.
The midfield had its own race at the first pit stops. Maciej Wójcik got position six from Bento but before his stop he gave it away again with a little mistake. Bentos’ stop took a while and he found himself back in a fight with Rob Logtenberg, who started from the pits after missing the qualifying, and Yann Laprevotte, who fell behind the other two after a few laps, followed by Matt Maslen who was staying behind them from now on. Wójcik got under pressure from Lars-Ole Storhaug after their stops, and after a few laps of driving behind his opponent, Storhaug had the upper hand against Wójcik, who lost another position to Araújo, who had to retire a few laps after that as already mentioned earlier. Lims Chebbi also lost positions against these three and after his great beginning of the race he had to retire on ninth position before his second pit stop. With the retirements of Araújo and Chebbi his teammate Laprevotte was on tenth prior to his second visit to the pits, but he didn’t change his tyres and ix laps after his second stop his tyre blew up, which forced him to pit for the third time, giving Matt Maslen the tenth position and his first point of this season next to seeing the chequered flag for the first time this year. Wójcik also gave away his seventh position shortly before the finish to Bento due to a third pit stop. He ended up in ninth as Rob Logtenberg also passed him while he was in the pits. Logtenberg was also fast enough to catch Bento, but not fast enough to launch an attack for another position improvement.
While Benoît and Hörenbaum had a rather easy race for one-and-a-half hour, the top three were never separated by more than ten seconds. While Wisniewski was still leading Felder made another small mistake that gave Riegler an advantage of five seconds before the second pit stops. And again Riegler was the first at the pits, but Felder rejoined the track just behind his teammate and didn’t have a chance to pass him in the final part of the race. He finished third behind his teammate with a gap of two seconds, but the winner of this race is Adam Wisniewski, who already won last season both races at South City.
Wisniewski improved his overall number of points to fifty and trails Benoît now by just five points after the first quarter of the season in the Drivers’ Championship. With his win Wisniewski brought his team SPDO Racing the lead in the Teams’ Championship in front of Redline Racing with a lead of also five points. The next race will be held on 29 May at the Fern Bay Black circuit.
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Again Jarl Teien was the fastest driver in the first qualifying. A few new drivers showed up in the rankings of this race due to different circumstances: For the Green and Yellow Racing Team Leandro Krissak replaced Marlon Göese who still had technical problems, Christian Felder took the seat of Peter Hopkins at the Sonicrealms Racing Team, Jorge Bento at the Its All About Speed Team and Carsten Hörenbaum took part for Raptor-Gaming. Except Bento all of them made it into the second qualifying where the drivers have to drive their car in racing conditions, which means a lot of fuel and race setup. Many drivers set their fastest time at the beginning of the session that saw Wisniewski on pole-position for the first time this year, followed by Riegler, Felder and the current championship leader Benoît. The other drivers didn’t have much luck in their runs that gave them only one fast lap, Krissak had additional problems as his setup wasn’t the right one, so he had to start from the pits.
While the top three made no sudden moves at the beginning of the long race, Teien took a look at the inside line against Benoît before turn two. Behind them was Hörenbaum was on his way out of their slip stream when both cars in front of him hit the brakes. Hörenbaum hit Teien, both spun and left no other choice for Araújo to hit the wall. Gamil had to slow down and got a hit by Wójcik, who also got a hit by András Szabó. Meanwhile Matt and Ian Maslen are stuck at Teiens car that was standing crosswise to the racing line. Lims Chebbi and Jorge Bento benefitted from that accident and found themselves on positions five and six after starting in row six. At the end of lap one both drivers of Team Egypt were in the top ten with position eight for Gamil and Zeyad Abou-Eita on ninth. However Gamil had to serve a drive-through penalty at the end of the second lap for an incident at last race, after that he was in eighteenth position. Teien had lots of work to do in the first lap when Ian Maslen also wanted to pass him in turn fifteen., but Maslen hit him slightly in the rear that robbed him of his speed for the following straight and opened the door for him and for Wójcik as well, but the matter couldn’t find a way past Teien.
The top four consisting of Wisniewski, Riegler, Felder and Benoît could open the gap to fifth-placed Chebbi, who did a magnificent job in keeping his position against Hörenbaum, Bento and Storhaug, who were all faster than him. But after lap five his defence collapsed and one by one they made it past him, before Chebbi got back into a rhythm on ninth. At the front Wisniewski could increase his lead by approximately ten seconds in front of Riegler and Felder before their first pit stops, with the later being the last one at the pits, but due to a mistake by him prior to his pit stop he couldn’t get past his teammate. Benoit followed by another five seconds, but after his pit stop he couldn’t keep the pace of the three at the front and found himself on fourth position from now on, safely separated from the top three and fifth-placed Carsten Hörenbaum, who shared his fate after Araújo and Teien who had to pit earlier than expected. Both fought hard to get back into the positions they started the race, but shortly after that they had to pit, leaving both of them outside the points. Teien had to retire after a third of the race, Araújo followed after the next third. Another driver who suffered a heavy time loss at the beginning of the race was Tariq Gamil, who was already on tenth before the first pit stops, but technical problems forced him to retire as well.
The midfield had its own race at the first pit stops. Maciej Wójcik got position six from Bento but before his stop he gave it away again with a little mistake. Bentos’ stop took a while and he found himself back in a fight with Rob Logtenberg, who started from the pits after missing the qualifying, and Yann Laprevotte, who fell behind the other two after a few laps, followed by Matt Maslen who was staying behind them from now on. Wójcik got under pressure from Lars-Ole Storhaug after their stops, and after a few laps of driving behind his opponent, Storhaug had the upper hand against Wójcik, who lost another position to Araújo, who had to retire a few laps after that as already mentioned earlier. Lims Chebbi also lost positions against these three and after his great beginning of the race he had to retire on ninth position before his second pit stop. With the retirements of Araújo and Chebbi his teammate Laprevotte was on tenth prior to his second visit to the pits, but he didn’t change his tyres and ix laps after his second stop his tyre blew up, which forced him to pit for the third time, giving Matt Maslen the tenth position and his first point of this season next to seeing the chequered flag for the first time this year. Wójcik also gave away his seventh position shortly before the finish to Bento due to a third pit stop. He ended up in ninth as Rob Logtenberg also passed him while he was in the pits. Logtenberg was also fast enough to catch Bento, but not fast enough to launch an attack for another position improvement.
While Benoît and Hörenbaum had a rather easy race for one-and-a-half hour, the top three were never separated by more than ten seconds. While Wisniewski was still leading Felder made another small mistake that gave Riegler an advantage of five seconds before the second pit stops. And again Riegler was the first at the pits, but Felder rejoined the track just behind his teammate and didn’t have a chance to pass him in the final part of the race. He finished third behind his teammate with a gap of two seconds, but the winner of this race is Adam Wisniewski, who already won last season both races at South City.
Wisniewski improved his overall number of points to fifty and trails Benoît now by just five points after the first quarter of the season in the Drivers’ Championship. With his win Wisniewski brought his team SPDO Racing the lead in the Teams’ Championship in front of Redline Racing with a lead of also five points. The next race will be held on 29 May at the Fern Bay Black circuit.
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