All-wheel-drive Winter Series 2013 final standings:
2nd season of AWS is finished after 8 rounds of different racing and all the champions are decided,most of them new,as only 1 title has a repeat winner. A total of 31 drivers signed-up for this season,18 of them took part in at least 1 round,12 of them were rookies. There were 5 different round winners from 4 different teams and from 3 nations.
AWS 2013 Drivers Champion: RG^Invecs
Drivers championship was not decided until the last year,allthough Race Green Autosports driver Invecs had a good gap and didn't needed to worry too much. Invecs won 3 rounds (Kyoto GP 100, Aston Grand Prix, Super X 100),finished in top5 in 6 rounds,he started from front row in 2 rounds,scored 2 fastest laps. In previous season he participated only in 1 round,finishing 22nd in season standings. STO's Muc took 2nd in championship by winnig 1 round (Aston Club Cross),also finishing in top5 in 6 rounds,took 2 pole positions and set 1 fastest lap of the race. Muc's teammate Kars took 3rd position with 4 round top5 finishes (allthough never finishing lower than 6th),took also 1 pole position. Rony from RGA and M.Kapal from Savage rounds up best 5 drivers at main championship,where czech M.Kapal is the only non-latvian driver.
AWS 2013 Rookie of the Year: [STO]Muc
The first winner of this award and thus the best league newcomer is Muc from Sex tourism organizers team,winning 1 race and finishing season with 39 points lead over closest rival T.Lähteenmäki.
AWS 2013 FXR Master: RG^Invecs
FXR Master is one of 3 titles which were on stake at the final round,Invecs gave up only one point of his 11 point lead over Muc and took his 2nd AWS title. 2 of his 3 season wins were scored with FXR,he finished outside top5 only in first round. Invecs was placed 17th in previos season.
AWS 2013 RB4 Master: [STO]Muc
The best rookie celebratad his only win with RB4 and other 2 rounds he finished in 3rd position,taking his 2nd title with just 3 points lead over his teammate Kars.
AWS 2013 Cross Challenge winner: [STO]Kars
Stability was the key for this award,as Kars finished 2nd in every single rallycross race this season,taking also his only pole position. He finished with 8 points advantage over his teammate Muc.
AWS 2013 Teams Champions: Race Green Autosports
Just 2 points difference decided winners of the teams title - STO could not reduce the gap in final round,letting the series hosting team take the award. RGA drivers finished 1st,4th and 13th in drivers standings,team scored 3 wins (all by the series champion),took a total of 12 top5 finishes,set 2 fastest laps of the race. The "source" team of RGA - TheReality Racing Team - finished 2nd last year.
AWS 2013 Nations Cup winners: Latvia
The only repeated champion is the league hosting nation Latvia,finishing the season with a commanding 99 points lead over Czech Republic. Latvian drivers collected half of the available 8 round wins,22 top5 finishes,took 3 pole positions,and set 3 fastest laps.
AWS 2013 other honorable mentions:
CoRe T.Lähteenmäki - won 2 of the season's first 4 rounds,taking pole position and setting fastest laps in same both races,whice were rallycross races. The finnish driver never attended in 2nd half of the season and finished 6th in main standings and as 2nd best rookie.
CoRe V.Pitkänen - participated only in 1 round but dominated it by winning it,taking pole position and setting fastest lap. He finished 11th in standings,6 positions better than last season.
S M.Kapal - showed his oval skills in final round taking the full 17 points package from round with a win,pole position and fastest lap of the race. He finished 5th in standings,upgrading his 19th position from last year.
CoRe Racing - took a total of 3 wins of AWS 2013,but ended with 4th position in Teams Championship due to not participating in 2nd half.
We would like to say big thanks to all racers for taking part in this league,hoping that you had fun from these races! Unfortunately the number of drivers have decreased by 51% in comparision to 1st season. Let's see what 2014 brings,we can only hope for better times!
But let's stay in 2013 for a while for now,I just wanted to send out some sort-of-teaser info about our plans - in approximately 2 months we will announce our new league,which will fill the GTR sprintracing gap,currently being empty,while all the GTR leagues are running with at least 1h races. The new league is planned to hold a round on each track environment,choosing rather medium short configurations,each round will feature qualifying and 2 20minute races. But - there will be one little trick,to make the races a bit more interesting (we hope) and mess up comperitors minds.
Stay tuned!