Round 3 Summary
For round 3 we've headed to Fern Bay Gold with the racers favourite, the LX4. After both races, it was My3ID driver D.Williams who picked up the most points with an advantageous 2nd place in the sprint race, and a well earned victory in the feature race. Series leader J.Scheuerle received similar results, with the race 1 victory and a hard fought race for 2nd ahead of My3ID driver H.Luis in race 2. The round points could have looked different if it wasnt for a dry fuel tank in the last sector for Luis in the sprint race, leading to a disappointing end to what would have been a very narrow finish.
Round 3 see's the series head to Kyoto National with the GTRs on Thurs 26th March @ 19:00UTC, See you all there next week.

Click 'read full story' for Results & Additional information

Official Results: Qual :: Sprint Race :: Feature Race
Round Replays: here

Round 3 Podiums:
Race 1 - 13 Laps
1st - J.Scheuerle (LX4) - 20pts
2nd - D.Williams (LX4) - 18pts
3rd - A.Suszynski (LX4) - 16pts

Race 2 - 26 laps
1st - D.Williams (LX4) - 30pts
2nd - J.Scheuerle (LX4) - 27pts
3rd - H.Luis (LX4) - 24pts


Race Report
This race report is a little shorter than normal due to RL issues getting in the way (same reason for it being a few days later than normal too).

Race 1
From the start of race 1, Scheuerle started cleanly and led the field into the first corner with everyone getting through without incident. In 4th/5th were Staal and Williams, who after making it through the first chicane were nose to tail with Williams pushing for the rest of the lap before going round the outside after the long back-straight to take 4th. Just ahead of this Luis had caught Mooney and the drivers were now fighting over 2nd place.
Further back as the mid-field cars came onto the back-straight, in an attempt to maintain momentum and leave room for the driver to the left side as the side barrier approached, Jagodits just turned too sharply when trying to avoid the driver infront and he lost control of the rear as it kicked and send him head on into the opposite sides barrier, flipping the light car directly over the top of the oncoming traffic and then back into the middle of the track where his stranded car would catch XFusion driver Janasek, both drivers were able to drag their limping LX4’s back to the pits for some serious repairs.

Lap 2 and Staal was back infront of Williams, making a clean moved down the inside of T1 after Williams ran wide and lost time bringing the rear back into line. Behind this in 10th was Gunzelmann, who’d had a disappointing qualifying but was beginning to come through the field from 14th with a couple of passes and avoiding the first lap incident, and on the exit of T1 was also able to slip past Privateer driver Cagaš

During the middle laps of the race, the field had started to spread itself out, with small groups formed but none were particularly active until lap 6 which created a knock on effect of movement over the next couple of laps. The action started when Gunzelmann ran wide on the corner before the back-straight, allowing Szarka to get alongside to try a move round the outside and Cagaš was following closely watching for any gaps and found one when the move on Gunzelmann failed at the end of the straight, and the Privateer and the Infinity driver went side by side Cagaš was given no room on the inside of the left hander and the Czech driver had to quickly recover the car and regain momentum on the quick corners. This allowed n1Racing driver Lehikoinen to get right behind and eye the place up, before making a wild dive down the inside and wide at T1, but as the move slowed both drivers down this then let Santos of Fluid Racing join the mix as the cars ran down the back-straight with 2nd n1Racing driver Vuorinen only half a second behind and quickly able to catch as Lehikoinen attempted to pass Santos, letting Cagaš get back up to speed and a small mistake by Finn saw Santos get clear and the chain of events from 2 laps earlier, starting with a wide exit from the 8th place driver effect everyone back to 13th.

By lap 8, Mooney had been clawing back the gap which had formed on the opening laps when defending 2nd from My3ID driver H.Luis, and the Mercury driver while not taking huge chucks of time from leader Scheuerle, there were consistant tenths being taken each sector with some minor slip-ups from Scheuerle costing just a small speed loss but enough to let Mooney eat into the gap, but unfortunately after getting the time down to 0.60sec on the last sector of lap 9, his connection to the server was fading and he lost connection ending hope of a thrilling battle between two of the best drivers in LFS and giving Scheuerle a chance to compose himself free from the charging Brit and moving Williams up into the 3rd podium spot.
Fortunately Luis had other plans for any relaxing, and he then started to work away at the 1.8sec gap, and had reduced it to just 1sec with only 3 laps remaining. Lap 11 so no change, with only a 0.05sec difference in laptimes, but on lap 12 the gap dropped further, now only 0.78sec separating the two and just 90sec of racing to find the rest and make the pass on the final lap. As the pair entered the last sector, the gap would be just 0.48 but with just 30sec of the race to go, and no good passing spots left on the lap it was looking unlikely anything would stop them finishing 1st and 2nd. Then with the finish line almost in sight, events saw a change of places, but it was Williams passing Luis who would run out of fuel less than 500 meters from the end of the race and denying the race the close finish it deserved.
Scheuerle would go on to take another Pro Series race victory, Williams collected another podium position and Suszynski would take advantage of the fuel mistake to pick up the final spot on the podium.

note: Luis would originally cross the line in 5th place, but due to the manner in which the finish was achieved the lap was taken away in the final standings, however race 2 would start with the driver staying in the 5th place drivers grid-spot.

Full Race Result - http://www.lfsproseries.net/results.php?t=r&ss=8

Race 2
Race 2 saw the now familiar reversed top-10 grid format mix the front of the grid up, giving Santos and Pavars the best seats in the house for the 26 lap feature race.
However it was Privateer Cagaš who got the best start and making a clean move down the inside into T1 was then able to take advantage of a small mistake into the chicane as Santos clipped the tyres allowing him and Pavars through to reverse initial order of the top 3 starters.
Mooney would be starting at the backin 15th after the non-finish in race 2, and had a tough challenge ahead to reduce the damage already done, by the end of the first lap he had already moved up to 11th while his main competition were being held up by the frontrunners who were defending their place and by the end of lap 2 would be into 9th and have championship leader and race 1 winner Scheuerle just a couple of seconds ahead of him with only 1 car separating them.
Williams was having the best start of the top race 1 drivers, going from 9th to 3rd in just a few laps, and by lap 6 Luis and Scheuerle were now beginning to calve the way through a few places as the field spread and attempts to pass had less risk of leaving yourself open to attempts of being passed if it didn’t happen.
On lap 8 Mooney was upto 6th, but now almost 5 seconds behind Luis and 6.2 behind Scheuerle, but while they were being slowed down as Pavars attempted to hold onto 4th place moves it would give Mooney a chance to close that gap back down. It wouldn’t be till lap 14 that Mooney would get close enough to make a pass for 5th.

On Lap 10 Williams had worked his way through the field, from 9th to 1st and started to pull away from the other championship contenders. Scheuerle would slip into 2nd just 2 laps later, with a 2.5sec gap between the 2 drivers, and Luis still in 4th place and 4.5sec from his teammate and race leader. Another 2 laps, and Luis would take 3rd and he attempted to re-enact the close finish from race 1, but probably with a more satisfying finish.
Near the end of Lap 19 Mooney had passed Cagaš for 4th but was 6sec back and the podium positions were little more than black dots on the horizon, however Luis was still chasing down Scheuerle and could see him perfectly clear as the gap was now just 1.5sec. By lap 22 it was down to just 0.6 and closing, and by the final sector the 2 were touching nose to bumper, and with 3 laps left in the race it was looking like being the battle race 1 nearly had, however getting close and passing were different challenges, Scheuerle held position confidently and with the limited vision of having to look through a car a small gap would re-emerge by lap 24, but just as before the gap would start to drop as Luis cut into the gap yet again giving further hope of an explosive finish to the race. Lap 25 saw a gap of just 0.4, then 0.3 and on the start of the final lap Luis was giving it everything he had but just couldn’t get close enough to make a pass, and the race ended with Williams taking the win, Scheuerle second and Luis third.
Full Race Result - http://www.lfsproseries.net/results.php?t=r&ss=9