Round 3 was held on the
Kyoto National infield-only configuration(
KY21), with
TBOs. For the only time of the season, this round had a two heats system, which provided more door to door action than usual.
Rudy van Buren came back stronger after a difficult round 2, and set pole, leading an ineX Racing 1-2-3: championship leader Joe Holmes was alongside him in front row, in front of series newcomer
Philip Ellis. “Best of the rest” was reigning
Formula Ford World Champion
Dennis Lind(
Dennis .Inc) in 4th.
Holmes and
Lind took the best starts and were leading the early laps. However, a tangle between the two of them after a few laps made
Holmes drop several positions, while
Lind would quickly give up places aswell due to slightly overheated tyres. This meant that poleman
van Buren would be back in the lead after half-way, despite a shy first race half. The Dutch driver would eventually win, in front of
Teemu Iivonen(
ineX Racing), and early leaders
Joe Holmes and
Dennis Lind.
Race 1 finish order was taken in order to set race 2’s starting grid. No surprise at the start this time, front row starters
van Buren and
Iivonen kept the two first places.
Iivonen passed his Dutch teammate for the lead at lap 2, but didn’t manage to keep the lead more than a few laps:
van Buren was back in the lead once again at half-way, and then cruised to another victory. The
ineX train would be splitted by
Dennis Lind this time: the Danish, starting in 4th, managed to pass both
Holmes and
Iivonen to get an important 2nd place for the championship, taking race fastest lap in the process.
Iivonen and
Holmes follow in 3rd and 4th.
The
ineX domination is completed by
Philip Ellis, who took 5th in both races. Right behind him, 2010
iTCC champion
Karolis Kliaudiatis(
My3id Gaming) kept consistant scoring with two 6th places. Also note that best non-XRT driver was
Jack Sedgewick(
Fred Loves Pie), taking 7th and 8th in his
FXO.
The drivers’ championship lead is officially kept by
Joe Holmes(117 points), far in front of
Dennis Lind(86),
Karolis Kliaudaitis(78),
Jack Sedgewick(75), and
Teemu Iivonen(73) – former 2nd and 3rd place runners
Egon Liibeon(
spdo Racing) and
Phil Diaz(
ineX Racing) dropping to 9th and 10th after missing round 3. However, if you already drop each drivers’ worst round, the situation is pretty much different:
Lind would be leading, 1 point of
Holmes, and 13 in front of
Iivonen. The championship therefore remains wide open, at only 2 rounds to go.
At the teams’ championship, with 237 points,
ineX Racing extends its lead to 136 points on 2nd place group. With only 182 points to give away,
ineX will most likely get the teams’ title, bar any misfortune. Things are a lot closer in the battle for 2nd place, with 6 teams grouped in 26 points:
spdo Racing(after lining-up zero car at round 3),
Angel Power Racing,
Tiger Express Motorsports, and one-car entries
Dennis .Inc,
My3id Gaming and
Fred Loves Pie.
They said…:
Rudy van Buren(
ineX Racing. Quali: 1st, Race 1: 1st, Race 2: 1st): “
After a bad race with the FOX, I was hoping for a better result with the TBOs. The track was really cool to race on and as far as i fought on track it went fair and hard. The races required quite some attention to the tires, to not overheat them too early, but it all went well for me with the pole and double win.”
Dennis Lind(
Dennis .Inc. Quali: 4th, Race 1: 4th, Race 2: 2nd): “
Secondrace I had in the championship, and this track was very fun, lots of tire strategy was needed, and I think that was the only reason I got ahead of Teemu Iivonen in the middle of race 2, All in all great race(s) once again! I’m looking forward for the next one.”
Joe Holmes(
ineX Racing Quali: 2nd, Race 1: 3rd, Race 2: 4th): “
Qualy went well for me, getting p2. Race 1 was a little difficult as i had huge tyre problems on my fronts and dropped away during a bad heat peak, but managed to get back up there and get p3. Race 2 was very hard, i made changes to the setup and it just made my rears very hot, i could only manage p4.”
Jack Ward(
Team Vires Quali: 14th, Race 1: 12th, Race 2: 13th): “
Absolutely Epic race. That is all ”
Standings |
Some Pictures