The last round of the Tiger Express Z30 Festival took place on the longest layout of PMD’s open configurations pack, Kyoto International GT Long(KY33). Even with LFS’ second fastest ever car – the FO8 – no one could lap this layout in less than 3 minutes and 12 seconds.
The race was dominated by poleman Rudy van Buren and 4th place starter Simon Cattell. The latter managed to pass both Matias Pikkarainen and Philip Ellis in the opening corners, and chased his Dutch ineX team-mate for the whole race, without ever managing to make a pass. Van Buren eventually won, 4 tenths in front of Cattell, with the two of them also sharing the fastest lap of the race(3:12:64). Philip Ellis completes the podium after a lonely race in 3rd, and makes an ineX Racing 1-2-3.
Matias Pikkarainen(spdo Racing) and Phil Diaz(ineX Racing) round up the top 5 after a rather uneventful race for both.
Things were a bit more difficult for the championship contenders. After a difficult qualifying session(8th), Joe Holmes span at lap 1 and dropped to 10th, putting his championship chances under danger. Fortunately for him, his team-mate Teemu Iivonen wasn’t in a good day, and blew his last chances in a spin from 4th at lap 4. Both ineX cars were nose to tail while Teemu recovered, but the Finish driver managed to pull away from Joe, taking 6th, while the young Englishman settled in 7th and secured the title.
The top 10 is completed by season long mid-field animators: Martin Kapal(Angel Power Racing), Yann Laprevotte(Tiger Express Motorsports) and Ditlev Errebo(DABAR Racing).
At the drivers’ championship, ineX succeeded to have 5 of their drivers in the top 5. Joe Holmes becomes champion of the Tiger Express Z30 Festival with 1 win and 3 podiums. The Englishman started the season on a high with a win in the STD round 1, and then managed to capitalise on that victory to control his team-mates’ return. Season long challenger Teemu Iivonen takes 2nd(4 podiums), in front of Simon Cattell(1 podium), who saved his season in the last round. Phil Diaz is 4th with 1 podium, while Rudy van Buren finished his rather “all-or-nothing” season(3 wins and 2 retirements in 5 races) in 5th place. “Best of the rest” is Matias Pikkarainen(spdo Racing, 1 win) in 6th, in front of Dennis Lind(Dennis .Inc, 1 win, 3 podiums), Yann Laprevotte(Tiger Express Motorsports), Ditlev Errebo(DABAR RAcing) and Martin Kapal(Angel Power Racing).
With no surprise ineX Racing comes on top of the teams’ championship, with almost 2 times more points than their closest rival. It wasn’t totally a Sunday drive for them though, with very tough opposition at times(Kliaudaitis, Lind, Pikkarainen, Kööts). ineX still managed to get an amazing record of 4 wins and 13 podiums in 6 races, a fabulous performance. Being them comes the group for 2nd place with spdo Racing(1 win, 2 podiums), Tiger Express Motorsports and Angel Power Racing. 1 car entry Dennis .inc(1 win, 3 podiums) completes the top 5.
Standings | Some pictures
Full article with drivers quotes on www.tigerexpress.net
The race was dominated by poleman Rudy van Buren and 4th place starter Simon Cattell. The latter managed to pass both Matias Pikkarainen and Philip Ellis in the opening corners, and chased his Dutch ineX team-mate for the whole race, without ever managing to make a pass. Van Buren eventually won, 4 tenths in front of Cattell, with the two of them also sharing the fastest lap of the race(3:12:64). Philip Ellis completes the podium after a lonely race in 3rd, and makes an ineX Racing 1-2-3.
Matias Pikkarainen(spdo Racing) and Phil Diaz(ineX Racing) round up the top 5 after a rather uneventful race for both.
Things were a bit more difficult for the championship contenders. After a difficult qualifying session(8th), Joe Holmes span at lap 1 and dropped to 10th, putting his championship chances under danger. Fortunately for him, his team-mate Teemu Iivonen wasn’t in a good day, and blew his last chances in a spin from 4th at lap 4. Both ineX cars were nose to tail while Teemu recovered, but the Finish driver managed to pull away from Joe, taking 6th, while the young Englishman settled in 7th and secured the title.
The top 10 is completed by season long mid-field animators: Martin Kapal(Angel Power Racing), Yann Laprevotte(Tiger Express Motorsports) and Ditlev Errebo(DABAR Racing).
At the drivers’ championship, ineX succeeded to have 5 of their drivers in the top 5. Joe Holmes becomes champion of the Tiger Express Z30 Festival with 1 win and 3 podiums. The Englishman started the season on a high with a win in the STD round 1, and then managed to capitalise on that victory to control his team-mates’ return. Season long challenger Teemu Iivonen takes 2nd(4 podiums), in front of Simon Cattell(1 podium), who saved his season in the last round. Phil Diaz is 4th with 1 podium, while Rudy van Buren finished his rather “all-or-nothing” season(3 wins and 2 retirements in 5 races) in 5th place. “Best of the rest” is Matias Pikkarainen(spdo Racing, 1 win) in 6th, in front of Dennis Lind(Dennis .Inc, 1 win, 3 podiums), Yann Laprevotte(Tiger Express Motorsports), Ditlev Errebo(DABAR RAcing) and Martin Kapal(Angel Power Racing).
With no surprise ineX Racing comes on top of the teams’ championship, with almost 2 times more points than their closest rival. It wasn’t totally a Sunday drive for them though, with very tough opposition at times(Kliaudaitis, Lind, Pikkarainen, Kööts). ineX still managed to get an amazing record of 4 wins and 13 podiums in 6 races, a fabulous performance. Being them comes the group for 2nd place with spdo Racing(1 win, 2 podiums), Tiger Express Motorsports and Angel Power Racing. 1 car entry Dennis .inc(1 win, 3 podiums) completes the top 5.
Standings | Some pictures
Full article with drivers quotes on www.tigerexpress.net