2012 Wrap Up
2012 was an interesting year for LLM drivers, the team developed from a back marker more towards a mid field component and we were even seen venturing into the top 5 at times, most recently as GT1 World Series.
Some of the championships which we participated in were the Lithuanian Championship, World TBO Championship, GT2 World Series, GT1 World Series, Live 4 Slicks, Open Wheel Racing League, as well as GT3 Touring Car Cup. We also participated in LFSCart, LFSCart Light, and MiniFBM.
GT3 Touring Car Cup
This league was a training ground for us, it was the beginning of an effort to push for more than simply making the grid. This saw the introduction of new driver Mariusz Jachna to share the cockpit with Ray Kingsbury. As the season closed the duo finished the season in 7th position overall, only 57 points out of first place. The best finishing result was 5th place.
LFSCart, LFSCart Light, MiniFBM
These leagues comprised NDR's open wheel schedule. In MiniFBM the LLM cars only participated in 2 rounds due to scheduling conflicts, however an interesting race at the drag strip proved that LLM cars had the ability to keep with the pacier customers.
In LFSCart, Nathan Lamothe took 5th in the overal driver championship with Ray in 11th after missing 3 rounds at the beginning of the season. LLM managed to beat ineX racing to take 2nd in the team championships. In the Rookie Cup, Ray Kingsbury took 3rd, Damian Eikelkamp 5th, Matt Kingsbury 7th, and Remco Majoor took 10th of 37 rookies.
In LFSCart Light, the team only ventured in 2 events. However at Fernbay Ray had found himself in a podium position due to tire strategy before being punted off on the final yellow flag restart.
GT2 World Series
Our first adventure in a real competitive GT league, in the middle of the season drivers Damian Eikelkamp and Remco Majoor joined our forces from rival team SGP. Highlights of the season included Nathan and Matt's podium run in the amateur class at Blackwood GP Reversed. Another was Pawel's magical stint at South City in which he drove his car to 7th overall only to be involved in carnage after Anton Moroz took the car over. In the end the AM car took 11th overall 1 point from 10th and the PRO car took 15th overall. In the PRO Class, 5th place was achieved and the same occured in the AM class.
World TBO Championship
WTBOC was a competitive touring car league, the only full time LLM driver to compete was Mindaugas Stankus. The Lithuanian driver claimed 1 podium enroute to a 4th place overall finish in the championship. He also led the team to a 4th place finish in the team championship. The next place for an LLM driver was 24th, and from there the remainder of drivers did a maximum of 2 rounds and left it to Stankus to secure glory.
Live for Slicks
The first rounds of the new series were busy, however attendance quickly dropped off. Ray did not attend the first 2 races, but rather manned the stream but when it became clear that people were not satisfied with the stream he jumped in a race car. Ray took 3rd in the drivers championship after 3 podium finishes, 2 of which were victories at the last round and 1 of which was a 2nd place finish over Dennis Lind who apologetically returned the spot after contact sent Ray off track. Last Lap Motorsports also took 1st in the team championship with the help of Andrius Sakalas, Cem Dalda, and William Fernandes.
LFS Lithuanian Championship
LLM has quite a few Lithuanian drivers, however only one has the caliper to be able to win the LFS Lithuanian Championship. Mindaugas Stankus captured the series title by 3 points over J.Bakšys. Only 15 drivers participated in the series and it was Stankus' consistent driving that put him on the top of the charts.
Open Wheel Racing League
OWRL seems to be the new found home for Dutch LLM drivers Remco Majoor and Damian Eikelkamp who find the open wheel racing much more appealing. Remco demonstrated his skill in the cars grabbing a couple of 2nd place finishes behind S.Reigler of Genuine Racing. Remco ended up finishing the season in only 10th place, however he looks to improve that next season.
GT1 World Series
Though only 2 rounds have gone by, LLM has shown pace yet been unable to capitalize on it. Cem Dalda and Mindaugas Stankus battled diversity in round 1 at Blackwood to bring their FXR to 5th place overall, and absolutely pulverizing all other Amateur class cars. However the momentum soon ended as Mindaugas caught a curb and landed on his roof. The same occured at Fernbay. The team's XRR was filled with absolute GT Amateurs and was a back marker at Blackwood, yet somehow managed a mid table finish. The XRR did not make it through prequalifying at Fernbay. The team's Pro car, an FZR piloted by Nathan Lamothe and our 2 Polish men also claimed a mid table finish at Blackwood. It also had good pace at Fernbay but a driver swap mistake cost the team a lot of time and the team was forced to settle for a rear end finish at Fernbay.
Ndr Burfday
Yesterday a multiclass race at FE3 between the FBM and STD class occured. Remco Majoor took 2nd place in the FBM class while Mindaugas Stankus took 5th in the STD class. Other LLM drivers participated in the FBM class but did not have much luck on securing a good position as they found lapping slower traffic too much of a challenge. Damian Eikelkamp secured a solid 5th position however, and Matt Kingsbury a 6th position despite only 8 FBM's finishing.
We look forward to 2013!