Norwegian Fredrik Enersen from the 'CoRe Racing' team made his mark here, at the Jamaican circuit of Fern Bay, this past weekend as he and Belgian Alex Laudens outpaced Championship contenders Nolan Scott and Rudy van Buren to close the gap on the two front-runners. Enersen looked stong right from the off, whilst Laudens finished strongly late in the afteroons races to score valuable point in the race for the 2009 iTCC Championship title.
Meanwhile, Rudy van Buren from the Netherlands staged a comeback in his title battle with CoRe's Nolan Scott in the iTCC Touring Car Championship as he drove carefully through the crashes, accidents, and incidents that marked this round of the Championship to collect the all-important points he needed to close the gap to Scott.
Round 2 of the iTCC Touring Car Championship was held at the tight and tortuous Fern Bay circuit, and having being billed in the lead-up to the event as promising action, this circuit did not disappoint. With two-thirds of the field (21 drivers!) within a second of Fredrik Enersens' pole time, this round was all about who made the least mistakes. Chances to pass on this twisting racetrack were few and far between, so any small mistakes or opportunities to pass were took quickly and aggressively, making for a spectular race meeting. Viewers at ICON TV were treated to a battle royale as some of the very best drivers in LFS fought tooth and nail with each other for every position and point on offer.
Reserve Shootouts
A smaller than expected field arrived at 1630 GMT for the Reserve Shootouts, with SonicRealms Racing's Jason Lovett and Jason Matthews turning in some very respectable times on their way to gaining qualification through to the main iTCC event. iCON Racing's own David Novak profited from his extensive testing in practice to complete the top 3 in Shootout 1.
1 87 J.Lovett 1:19.32
2 89 J.Matthews 1:19.51 +0:00.19
3 77 D. Novak 1:19.58 +0:00.26
FULL SHOOTOUT 1 RESULTS
In Shootout 2 it was a much tougher contest with CoRe's Phil Diaz lighting up the track in 1:19.10. In fact the top 7 drivers were all under the 1:19.5 mark, a sign of the fierce competitiveness and pace which makes the iTCC the crucible of competition that it is. Petr Goik and Kim-Andre Gjerde completed the top 3 in Shootout 2 with very respectable qualifying times that would point to success in future races that afternoon.
1 209 P.Diaz 1:19.10
2 213 P.Goik 1:19.16 +0:00.06
3 200 K. A. Gjerde 1:19.34 +0:00.24
FULL SHOOTOUT 2 RESULTS
In all, 17 drivers qualified through as of right to join the 13 'locked-in' drivers in the main iTCC event. A further two drivers from the Shootouts were invited to come on to the server to complete the field in the event of further no-shows. In the end, 31 drivers in all would contest the 2nd round of the iTCC Touring Car Championship.
Qualifying
Into the main event and very quickly it was obvious that the three top teams in this championship - CoRe, F1RST/X-Fusion, and Renesis, would completely dominate proceedings at a circuit where experience and patience are key. Unbelieveably, Alex Laudens took just ONE lap to record a laptime that would put him on the front row, starting just behind CoRe's F.Enersen. Title hopefuls Rudy van Buren and Nolan Scott both navigated through the traffic successfully enough to assure themselves of good starting positions in a very competitive field that would take no prisoners come the Races. But it was CoRe's F.Enersen who really demonstrated best how to muscle the FXR around the Fern bay track as he triumphed over both traffic and fellow competitors to post a terrific time of 1:19.02.
1 99 F.Enersen 1:19.02
2 94 A.Laudens 1:19.04 +0:00.02
3 209 P.Diaz 1:19.10 +0:00.08
FULL QUALIFYING RESULTS
Race 1:
Enersen started from pole, followed by Laudens and the 'newcomer' Diaz. After a good start, Enersen held his position through the first chicane, with Laudens and Diaz also holding their positions. At Lap 3, on the start/finish straight, Cherkashyn and van Buren overtook Diaz with a very good manoeuvre, side by side through nearly the whole straight and side by side entering the chicane. Cherkashyn was too fast in the following chicane, he ended up getting on to the grass and spinning. He losts a lot of positions and meanwhile Kevin Burns from Core also got on the grass and rejoined with Cherkashyn, at the same time and place on the track.
At this point about 5 drivers were side by side in the corner under the bridge and Alamaras spun. He tried to get out of the raceline, was collected by Cargas and ended up on his roof. The race control depolyed the safety car. After the safety lap, D. Lind got a perfect start and climbed up to second position behind Enersen. Behind him, Laudens , who was second and van Buren who was third before the safetycar came out. The race went well till the finish, close fights for positions, many passes and repasses, spectacular pictures on iTCC TV, especially the last chicane with the high curbs, and the commentator box, with 3 brilliant commentators who had trouble trying to commentate on all that was happening. At the end, Enersen won his first race in the iTCC, followed by Lind, van Buren and Laudens - the Championship leader Scott finihed in 5th place. Diaz, third after qualifying, ended in 7th position after his mistake on lap 3.
RACE 1 RESULTS
Race 2:
Race 2 started in keeping with the finishing order of Race 1. So Enersen started from pole, Lind in second and van Buren in third position. Until Lap 7 the top 5 drivers held their positions.....then on the bridge van Buren passed Lind and got into second position. At this time Enersen was about 2.5 sec in front of van Buren and the gap increased. In the midfield there were a lot of hard fights with touches and spins, but Atkinson from New Dimension Racing was able to 'keep his nose clean' (© by Michael Passingham on iTCC TV), setting constant lap times without big issues and climbed up to 6th position.
Enersen, on his way to his second victory, had on Lap 15 technical problems and got on the grass, right after start/finish straight. He could rejoin the track, but the lead was taken by van Buren. Also in lap 15 Laudens passed his teammate Lind on the bridge and went into second position. In lap 16 Scott tried to overtake Lind in the fast and sticky uphill corners after the bridge, but they touched each other and Scott spun into the wall. Van Buren won the race after 17 laps, followed by Laudens in second and Lind in third position. The pole-sitter Enersen finished in 4th place, championship leader Scott in 5th place. The surprise was Atkinson finishing in 6th place without big issues or mistakes.
RACE 2 RESULTS
Race 3:
Race 3 started with the reverse grid of the first 7 drivers, so Gjerde started from pole, followed by Atkinson, Scott, Enersen, Lind, Laudens and van Buren. Atkinson passed Gjerde after the first corners and led the race until the last corner before the start/finish line. A little too quick into the last corner, he got passed by 4 drivers. In the first lap on the bridge there was a big accident where about 6 drivers were involved but all could continue the race
Gjerde was able to defend the lead until Lap 6 where he was passed by Scott on start/finish straight. With the attempt to fight back, Gjerde was too fast into the first chicane, he touched Scott and landed on the grass. Because of this he was demoted to 4th position. Scott himself also ended up on the grass and lost his position and Enersen took the lead, followed by Laudens. On Lap 7 Laudens passed Enersen on the start/finish line, defending the lead until the finish and winning his first iTCC race. Scott passed Enersen on Lap 16 and took 2nd position, in which he finished, followed by Enersen in 3rd place.
In this race, the fastest lap was set by Novak from iCON who finished on 19th position!
RACE 3 RESULTS
Conclusion:
Three races, three different winners, that's racing at its best. Without any room for overtaking, the same pace and high curbs, its very difficult to make a good race at Fern Bay, so I congratulate all drivers for this event. If some drivers would take more attention of the yellow flags by lifting the throttle and trying to brake, the races would be cleaner with less accidents. In the safety car lap at Race 1, drivers showed a superb behavior and the SC period worked without incident.
What a meeting! Non-stop action - some would say 'mayhem' - from the get-go. Tight defending and minimizing mistakes were the key to success at this, the second round of the inaugral iTCC Championship, with some fast new drivers really injecting new life into the front of the field. There are sure to be some more drivers keen to join the iTCC and pit their skills against the best. Keep tuned to the ITCC thread on the LFS forum. Catch the races on Mogulus and ICON TV.
Next up, the iTCC paddock moves to the grand old Blackwood track, fast and flowing, requiring a committed driver not afraid to push for every tenth of a second. Only the best will succeed. With an easy-to-drive race-car and a familiar track, a lot of drivers will be expecting to do well. Action is guaranteed! Don't miss it.
See you at Blackwood!
Meanwhile, Rudy van Buren from the Netherlands staged a comeback in his title battle with CoRe's Nolan Scott in the iTCC Touring Car Championship as he drove carefully through the crashes, accidents, and incidents that marked this round of the Championship to collect the all-important points he needed to close the gap to Scott.
Round 2 of the iTCC Touring Car Championship was held at the tight and tortuous Fern Bay circuit, and having being billed in the lead-up to the event as promising action, this circuit did not disappoint. With two-thirds of the field (21 drivers!) within a second of Fredrik Enersens' pole time, this round was all about who made the least mistakes. Chances to pass on this twisting racetrack were few and far between, so any small mistakes or opportunities to pass were took quickly and aggressively, making for a spectular race meeting. Viewers at ICON TV were treated to a battle royale as some of the very best drivers in LFS fought tooth and nail with each other for every position and point on offer.
Reserve Shootouts
A smaller than expected field arrived at 1630 GMT for the Reserve Shootouts, with SonicRealms Racing's Jason Lovett and Jason Matthews turning in some very respectable times on their way to gaining qualification through to the main iTCC event. iCON Racing's own David Novak profited from his extensive testing in practice to complete the top 3 in Shootout 1.
1 87 J.Lovett 1:19.32
2 89 J.Matthews 1:19.51 +0:00.19
3 77 D. Novak 1:19.58 +0:00.26
FULL SHOOTOUT 1 RESULTS
In Shootout 2 it was a much tougher contest with CoRe's Phil Diaz lighting up the track in 1:19.10. In fact the top 7 drivers were all under the 1:19.5 mark, a sign of the fierce competitiveness and pace which makes the iTCC the crucible of competition that it is. Petr Goik and Kim-Andre Gjerde completed the top 3 in Shootout 2 with very respectable qualifying times that would point to success in future races that afternoon.
1 209 P.Diaz 1:19.10
2 213 P.Goik 1:19.16 +0:00.06
3 200 K. A. Gjerde 1:19.34 +0:00.24
FULL SHOOTOUT 2 RESULTS
In all, 17 drivers qualified through as of right to join the 13 'locked-in' drivers in the main iTCC event. A further two drivers from the Shootouts were invited to come on to the server to complete the field in the event of further no-shows. In the end, 31 drivers in all would contest the 2nd round of the iTCC Touring Car Championship.
Qualifying
Into the main event and very quickly it was obvious that the three top teams in this championship - CoRe, F1RST/X-Fusion, and Renesis, would completely dominate proceedings at a circuit where experience and patience are key. Unbelieveably, Alex Laudens took just ONE lap to record a laptime that would put him on the front row, starting just behind CoRe's F.Enersen. Title hopefuls Rudy van Buren and Nolan Scott both navigated through the traffic successfully enough to assure themselves of good starting positions in a very competitive field that would take no prisoners come the Races. But it was CoRe's F.Enersen who really demonstrated best how to muscle the FXR around the Fern bay track as he triumphed over both traffic and fellow competitors to post a terrific time of 1:19.02.
1 99 F.Enersen 1:19.02
2 94 A.Laudens 1:19.04 +0:00.02
3 209 P.Diaz 1:19.10 +0:00.08
FULL QUALIFYING RESULTS
Race 1:
Enersen started from pole, followed by Laudens and the 'newcomer' Diaz. After a good start, Enersen held his position through the first chicane, with Laudens and Diaz also holding their positions. At Lap 3, on the start/finish straight, Cherkashyn and van Buren overtook Diaz with a very good manoeuvre, side by side through nearly the whole straight and side by side entering the chicane. Cherkashyn was too fast in the following chicane, he ended up getting on to the grass and spinning. He losts a lot of positions and meanwhile Kevin Burns from Core also got on the grass and rejoined with Cherkashyn, at the same time and place on the track.
At this point about 5 drivers were side by side in the corner under the bridge and Alamaras spun. He tried to get out of the raceline, was collected by Cargas and ended up on his roof. The race control depolyed the safety car. After the safety lap, D. Lind got a perfect start and climbed up to second position behind Enersen. Behind him, Laudens , who was second and van Buren who was third before the safetycar came out. The race went well till the finish, close fights for positions, many passes and repasses, spectacular pictures on iTCC TV, especially the last chicane with the high curbs, and the commentator box, with 3 brilliant commentators who had trouble trying to commentate on all that was happening. At the end, Enersen won his first race in the iTCC, followed by Lind, van Buren and Laudens - the Championship leader Scott finihed in 5th place. Diaz, third after qualifying, ended in 7th position after his mistake on lap 3.
RACE 1 RESULTS
Race 2:
Race 2 started in keeping with the finishing order of Race 1. So Enersen started from pole, Lind in second and van Buren in third position. Until Lap 7 the top 5 drivers held their positions.....then on the bridge van Buren passed Lind and got into second position. At this time Enersen was about 2.5 sec in front of van Buren and the gap increased. In the midfield there were a lot of hard fights with touches and spins, but Atkinson from New Dimension Racing was able to 'keep his nose clean' (© by Michael Passingham on iTCC TV), setting constant lap times without big issues and climbed up to 6th position.
Enersen, on his way to his second victory, had on Lap 15 technical problems and got on the grass, right after start/finish straight. He could rejoin the track, but the lead was taken by van Buren. Also in lap 15 Laudens passed his teammate Lind on the bridge and went into second position. In lap 16 Scott tried to overtake Lind in the fast and sticky uphill corners after the bridge, but they touched each other and Scott spun into the wall. Van Buren won the race after 17 laps, followed by Laudens in second and Lind in third position. The pole-sitter Enersen finished in 4th place, championship leader Scott in 5th place. The surprise was Atkinson finishing in 6th place without big issues or mistakes.
RACE 2 RESULTS
Race 3:
Race 3 started with the reverse grid of the first 7 drivers, so Gjerde started from pole, followed by Atkinson, Scott, Enersen, Lind, Laudens and van Buren. Atkinson passed Gjerde after the first corners and led the race until the last corner before the start/finish line. A little too quick into the last corner, he got passed by 4 drivers. In the first lap on the bridge there was a big accident where about 6 drivers were involved but all could continue the race
Gjerde was able to defend the lead until Lap 6 where he was passed by Scott on start/finish straight. With the attempt to fight back, Gjerde was too fast into the first chicane, he touched Scott and landed on the grass. Because of this he was demoted to 4th position. Scott himself also ended up on the grass and lost his position and Enersen took the lead, followed by Laudens. On Lap 7 Laudens passed Enersen on the start/finish line, defending the lead until the finish and winning his first iTCC race. Scott passed Enersen on Lap 16 and took 2nd position, in which he finished, followed by Enersen in 3rd place.
In this race, the fastest lap was set by Novak from iCON who finished on 19th position!
RACE 3 RESULTS
Conclusion:
Three races, three different winners, that's racing at its best. Without any room for overtaking, the same pace and high curbs, its very difficult to make a good race at Fern Bay, so I congratulate all drivers for this event. If some drivers would take more attention of the yellow flags by lifting the throttle and trying to brake, the races would be cleaner with less accidents. In the safety car lap at Race 1, drivers showed a superb behavior and the SC period worked without incident.
What a meeting! Non-stop action - some would say 'mayhem' - from the get-go. Tight defending and minimizing mistakes were the key to success at this, the second round of the inaugral iTCC Championship, with some fast new drivers really injecting new life into the front of the field. There are sure to be some more drivers keen to join the iTCC and pit their skills against the best. Keep tuned to the ITCC thread on the LFS forum. Catch the races on Mogulus and ICON TV.
Next up, the iTCC paddock moves to the grand old Blackwood track, fast and flowing, requiring a committed driver not afraid to push for every tenth of a second. Only the best will succeed. With an easy-to-drive race-car and a familiar track, a lot of drivers will be expecting to do well. Action is guaranteed! Don't miss it.
See you at Blackwood!