LFSW name: BADLVBOY
In-game name: nsys|MareX
Full team name: Nismo Systematics
Nation: Latvia

It is only the 2nd time ever of AWS visiting Westhill - last year we said good byes to old edition of this track,this year we greet new opportunities! The new Westhill Karting National circuit offers not only tricky tarmac turns for karting,but also a lot of slippery grass areas for rallycross action! The short 1.7 kilometer course offers a lot of different turns,mixing tarmac and dirt in quite narrow racetrack. Tyres as usually for RB4 will be a critical point in this race - the one who keeps things cool and finds a good line for 26 laps will be awarded with Rallycross Trophy of Westhill!

After 2 of 6 rounds there are few racers,who have more points towards championship then others - this just means that they have some advantage and are the ones to beat,as everyone can still take the glory in series!

Few notes on racetrack of this round: the track's starting grid is outside of normal course and is layed out in 3-2-3-2... row style. Make sure you're familiar with first turn of the race. Also this track features custom pitlane with 13 pitstop stalls,pitlane speed of 80 km/h will not be enforced,but it is strongly suggested to keep within this speed limit in designated area. The custom curbs found around track are known to cause suspension damage,they are used to force drivers keep car within track limits,so drive on them on your own risk!

Round info:
Track: Westhill Rallycross RGE (WE5X)
Laps: 26 (44km)
Car: RB4
Previous winners: N/A

Server info and password will be PM'ed during saturday (european time) to all entrants,until then server remains publically accessible:
AWS 2016

Server is now password protected and password has been sent to all entered drivers! If someone hasn't received it,please make a notification!

LFSW name: jsrk
In-game name: [WCL] J.Katila
Full team name: World Class Lions
Nation: Finland

LFSW name: jkat
In-game name: [WCL]J.A.Katila
Full team name: World Class Lions
Nation: Finland

Qualifying:


Race:


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If you make a protest,please include all information,like session,time/lap,involved cars and description.
Deadline for protests - monday,20:00 UTC

After twisty urban racetrack,AWS offered it's competitors even more twisty and demanding track - the custom rallycross track layed out around Westhill Karting National. Already in qualifying was clear,that the race winner will be between front row starters,as all 3 of them quite close laptimes and quite a gap to rest of the field. Despite qualifying in the worst position between leading trio,Marex was the one,who brought home this trophy - he was able to catch polesitter,who led first 7 laps,and squeezed past him to take lead in lap 8,also taking the extra point for fastest lap of the race. Despite being spun in first turns and gaining noticable damage lap later,Mishu picked up pace soon and was able to regain few lost spots to finish in same position as he qualified - 2nd,but polesitter's A.Valta's pace faded a bit through race and lost sight to leaders,but he still was way faster then the rest behind him and brought home solid 3rd place.


The Drivers Championship leader was able to extend his lead by 5 points - A.Valta is now relatively safe 14 points ahead of 2 closest rivals - Rony and A.Rozītis,but with half of the series still to go,he still cannot relax too much. In Rookie of the year standings,A.Valta has already 26 points lead over Snoopy - if A.Valta gains 8 points advantage on Snoopy and 5 on Marex,he will already secure this award.

3rd round was also 2nd and final round towards Cross Challenge award - A.Valta takes home the title after he won 1st round and finished 3rd in 2nd,taking also 3 bonus points. 2nd in table is Mishu,3rd - A.Rozītis. RB4 Master award table after round 2 of 3 is also led by A.Valta - he leads by 7 points over Rony. Round 3 will be Aston GP at Aston East Chicanes configuration.

If individual championships starting to go one way,other championships are starting to get interesting - Teams Championship is still led by World Class Lions,but their gap is now reduced to just 2 points as defending champions Race Green Autosports managed to pull back another 6 points. Similar situation is in Nations Cup table - Finland slowly loses their gap to defending champions Latvia,which trails now by just 3 points.


After the slowest round AWS switches to the fastest and longest round - the usually last and deciding round Winter 200 is now pulled up in calender to be 4th round. Due LFS's aerodynamic and drag specifications,teamwork is a vital part of this 200 kilometer race. 2014 was the fastest Winter 200 with winner S.Jurvansuu completing the distance in 43min and 28s (the only race under 43min 40s) - are this year's participants able to beat this time?

What is the word,that describes Kyoto Ring oval? Speed - and there's plenty of it in Winter 200! World record pace is just lonely man's boast,with good company around everyone is able to go under it. By starting the 2nd half of the season,this race has the potential to mix up cards in game for the Drivers Championship - who will be fast enough to be on top and who will have good buddy to pull away? Questions to be answered during next AWS round. Sign ups are still open until start of round 5,so everyone still has a chance to jump into AWS action!

In Drivers Championship one driver might have pretty big advantage,but with 3 rounds still to come,nothing can be taken as granted yet,while Teams Championship and Nations Cup will deffinitely offer some intrigue during the remainder of this season.

As usually the oval race will be preceded by single car hotlap qualifying - this means no teamwork in fight for starting grid positions,including the pole position bonus point. The running order will be decided by standings of Drivers Championship - from bottom to top with season's first time participants starting the session. Another important note is our reminder about Race Green Events' attitude towards bumpdrafting - with closed wheels cars it is not forbidden,but in case of any reported incidents it will be treated as intentional contact,so everyone has to make sure that he knows what he is doing!

Round info:
Track: Kyoto Oval (KY1)
Laps: 67 (201km)
Car: FXR
Previous winners: RGˆM.Velikov (2015), 22 S.Jurvansuu (2014), S M.Kapal (2013), spdoReno (2012)

Server info and password will be PM'ed during saturday (european time) to all entrants,until then server remains publically accessible:
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Server is now password protected and password has been sent to all entered drivers! If someone hasn't received it,please make a notification!

Qualifying:


Race:


MPR download

If you make a protest,please include all information,like session,time/lap,involved cars and description.
Deadline for protests - monday,20:00 UTC

Let's make then official protest because this incident was not mentioned after above ones.

Session: Race of AWS 2016 round 4
Lap / time: Lap 2 around 40 sec just before start/finish line
Involved cars: Sainted (ymeshulin), [WCL]J.A.Katila (jkat)
Description: After T3 [WCL]J.A.Katila was driving in normal line towards start/finish line when suddenly Sainted start to push from left rear corner causing my car to be unsteerable and both cars spin towards wall with heavy damages. Basically both drivers lost a chance to fight for top positions because of this incident.

Quote from ymeshulin :

J, I acknowledge my fault in the accident you describe, and fully accept the blame.

I would appreciate if you could review your driving on two instances I am describing above. I am not angry, however I believe you could have done a better job there.

I know I made mistakes but after you were pushing me and dragging yourself into the wall and almost took me and yourself out of race it did not matter much to discuss those earlier incidents. Anyways you had also a few close calls during 1st 2 laps but luckily did not took out anyone else. I also saw many close calls by other racers during the race so almost everyone made mistakes in the race. Like someone said after race, oval race in kyoto is tricky to have incident free, at least when you do oval races only few times a year.

Quote from ymeshulin :

Please review the driving of J. Katila on lap 2:

- T3: he has pulled alongside, but failed to maintain his line, which led to a contact despite me giving him enough room
- front stretch: failed to watch his mirrors, resulting in heavy contact with an outside car (me)

Quote from jkat :

Session: Race of AWS 2016 round 4
Lap / time: Lap 2 around 40 sec just before start/finish line
Involved cars: Sainted (ymeshulin), [WCL]J.A.Katila (jkat)
Description: After T3 [WCL]J.A.Katila was driving in normal line towards start/finish line when suddenly Sainted start to push from left rear corner causing my car to be unsteerable and both cars spin towards wall with heavy damages. Basically both drivers lost a chance to fight for top positions because of this incident.

Both incidents follow each other and are caused by same reason - not giving sufficient room for car around. Because both drivers finished in last 2 positions with the driver,that caused more damage,last and no other impact was done:
[WCL] J.A.Katila and Sainted - both receive a warning for avoidable contacts. Any other infractions during this season will lead to greater penalties if needed!




Last weekend the AWS drivers had to forget twisty and slow racetracks and had to concentrate on speed - Winter 200 is the fastest round of AWS calendar and any small mistakes led to quite huge crashes. Some of them had more and some less impact on the race,unfortunatelly unlucky lag by driver,who slipped through eyes of race administation and joined the race without permission,caused the biggest one,taking out both front row starters. But the race continued and both top 2 finishers of previous round put together their efforts and pulled out safe gap over rest of the field,to guarantee private party in fight for the win. Marex stayed behind Mishu through the final lap to plan draft overtake in finish straight and the plan payed off,as he crossed the finish line less then a half of a car length ahead of Mishu,repeating previous rounds 1-2 finishing order. Falcon after long chase catched the first draft only on finish straight of final lap,but was able to pass 2 cars and jump onto podium's final step.


With Drivers Championship leader finishing ahead of both closest rivals,the lead of A.Valta has increased by one more point,reaching 15 points - this means that A.Valta needs to win and pick up both bonus points (without sharing any of those bonus points) to clinch the main AWS award before final round in any scenario. 2nd place has still points tie between Rony and A.Rozītis with Mishu just 2 points behind - probably the most unpredictable situation in the table.

After 2 of 3 FXR Master rounds,A.Valta leads by 5 points over Mishu,meaning that the battle will be still wide open in AWS final round Westhill GP. But in Rookie of the year standings the main chaser has been changed - 2nd in table now is Marex,but his gap to leader is 24 points. A.Valta needs to collect 11 points through next 2 rounds to take this title.

In both un-individual championships there has been a lead change - in Teams Championship Race Green Autosports has taken over the lead and now has 5 points gap to World Class Lions,while the rest are losing contact to them in table. And in Nations Cup table the top position has been taken over by Latvia,Finland is now 2nd and trails by 6 points. No other nation has actual chances to clinch this award - Bulgaria still has theoretical chance,but that would require 2nd entry,complete domination and withdraval by all drivers of leading 2 nations.


Next round in AWS calendar is Aston Grand Prix - a round,that has been on AWS calender in all 4 previous years,but has been different in all of them. For the 3rd year in row it will be driven with RB4 on a custom configuration,this year - Aston East Chicanes,combining AS7,AS6 and AS4R configuration parts,introducing one tricky chicane using default routes,but not found in official configurations and another chicane,created artificially. With little creativity this track received a new custom pitlane beside the custom starting grid,offering to drivers option to pit without using any of hardly accessible original pitlanes.
Also Aston GP will be the final round to enter to AWS 2016 season,as with round start no new entries will be accepted. Also it is the final chance for everyone to score points towards Drivers Championship if already not done so - only drivers with at least 1 point in standings will be allowed to take part in season finale at Westhill!

The 2016 season of AWS introduces a completely new configuration of Aston - East Chicanes. As the name of it already reveals,the configuration features quite few chicanes - two are very familiar from original configurations,while one is known from other custom configurations and another one is artificially built. But the track offers few more challenging sections - like 3 back to back tight hairpins,elevation rich curves and tightening fast turns,giving good workout for racers of AWS round 5 - Aston Grand Prix.

Sunday might bring new name into AWS Drivers Champions list,but it's too early for the fat lady to sing,as nothing can be taken for granted - one unlucky fluke might reset the race for the title at square one. A.Valta has a solid lead over the rest of entries,but he still has to earn the bragging rights. Also this race will decide the AWS RB4 Master - A.Valta's 7 points gap with 17 to grab is everything else as guaranteed.

Round 5 is the final round,where new drivers can still enter 2016 season - sign ups will be closed 10 minutes before qualifying start. Also for entered drivers,who haven't scored a point towards Drivers Championship,this is the final chance to do so,as only drivers with at least 1 point in their account will be able to join season finale at Westhill!

Round info:
Track: Aston East Chicanes (AS1X)
Laps: 15 (97km)
Car: RB4
Previous winners: LLM.Excellent (2015), RGˆMatiss (2014), RGˆInvecs (2013), spdoFade (2012)

Server info and password will be PM'ed during saturday (european time) to all entrants,until then server remains publically accessible:
AWS 2016

Server is now password protected and password has been sent to all entered drivers! If someone hasn't received it,please make a notification!

Server is updated to latest stable version 0.6M!

Qualifying:


Race:


MPR download

If you make a protest,please include all information,like session,time/lap,involved cars and description.
Deadline for protests - monday,20:00 UTC

Another Aston Grand Prix spent with challenging custom track,another new winner - the championship leader never left any hopes to anyone today and dominated the whole round with setting best lap with almost 2 seconds difference to closest rival in qualifying and leaving everyone behind right from the green light on his way to solid victory. Best of the rest in Aston GP was Marex,who reached the finish line 45 seconds later,which was his first not won race since entering AWS,Mishu collected another podium by finishing 3rd.


With 17 points left to collect (and 1 point possible to lose in case of not attending) the 24 point gap of A.Valta guarantees him the AWS Drivers Champion title of this season without any chance for others to challenge. With the main title out of question,the battle for 2nd place in standings is spiced up to maximum - Mishu now leads this battle,but only 5 points covers gap to 5th place,meaning 4 drivers have very realistic chance to earn runner up position in final standings. Mishu,A.Rozītis and Rony can take 2nd place in any scenario,when any of them wins and collects at least 1 bonus point,while Marex needs race win with both bonus points and Mishu not finishing 2nd.

RB4 Master award is also finished - before last round for this award standings was led by A.Valta,who collected all 17 points and secured another individual award for himself. With clinching main title and having rookie status,also the Rookie of the Year title is secured by A.Valta - he is 3rd Drivers Champion in row,who wins it in his first season at AWS.

Race Green Autosports increased it's lead in Teams Championship by 6 points during Aston GP and has now 11 points lead over World Class Lions,which is the only team that can endanger defending champions taking another teams title. RGA needs to score 20 points (win and 9th place or 2nd and 7th or 3rd and 5th) during Westhill GP to make it 4 in row in any case,while WCL's job is much tougher - taking whole podium to themselves positions and taking both bonus points would guarantee the title without needing to calculate points. But Nations Cup before final round has the biggest intrigue in AWS history - while in most years Latvia had already the title secured an this stage of series,this year the difference to closest rival Finland is just 4 points - too little to do any 'what if' calculations at all - the situation and currently leading nation might change with almost every pass in race from involved nations' drivers.


With only 1 more race left in 2016 AWS season,we can conclude that this was the least attended season ever - only 13 drivers have qualified for season finale at Westhill. But at least there is intrigue for the final round as one individual award (FXR Master) and both non-individual awards are awaiting their owners and these 13 drivers have all the chances to decide the faith of them - directly or indirectly. The venue for this race is configuration named Westhill National - the shorter version of 2 big tracks,which offers a great mix of high speed sections and challenging slow turn combinations. With the fastest of both league cars - FXO GTR - this will be a good showcase for league racers' skills in during final fights for better position in standings.

If we take AWS season like a one lap around an imaginary track,the season is now entering final turn before finish stretch,well,at least most of drivers,as A.Valta has already crossed the finish line and had his shower of champagne in victory lane. But others still have their battles ahead,as we have pretty intense situation for being 2nd best of this season with 4 drivers having realistic shot at this position.

It is the second time AWS having a round in configuration codenamed 'WE1',but this time this codename is worn by completelly new configuration - Westhill National still has 2 very fast straights and high speed turns,but also features a relatively slow section in track middle part,making drivers to search for good compromises in car setup if they want to win Westhill Grand Prix.

As usually in AWS,in final round only season's active drivers are allowed to take part and after pretty pale season only 13 have qualified for season finale. But,don't let numbers fool you as 4 of them are challenging for runners up position in final standings,4 have a good chance to collect last available individual award,6 can score points for their teams in fight for Teams Championship and a total of 9 can decide outcome in fight for Nations Cup directly. And of course everyone except leading 2 can still upgrade their place in final standings for their own pride!

Round info:
Track: Westhill National (WE1)
Laps: 27 (119km)
Car: FXR
Previous winners: RGˆM.Velikov (2015) - with RB4

Server info and password will be PM'ed during saturday (european time) to all entrants,until then server remains publically accessible:
AWS 2016

Server is now password protected and password has been sent to all eligible drivers! If someone hasn't received it,please make a notification!

Server password please rony

Qualifying:


Race:


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If you make a protest,please include all information,like session,time/lap,involved cars and description.
Deadline for protests - monday,20:00 UTC

After qualifying of final round the Westhill Grand Prix,it seemed for things to go one direction - Mishu was fastest in it,even if it was by small margin,and also was pulling away from chasers early on,but his lead just exceeded 2 seconds before it was shrinking down again as Marex was gaining time lap after lap. After two thirds of the race slight mistake at exit of last sharp turn gave Marex the opportunity to pass and he kept the gained lead to finish line to take his 3rd win in 2016 AWS season. Mishu realized that his fuel calculations were wrong and had to go for 2.5 second splash and dash pitstop with 7 laps to go,but was able to regain the lost 2nd place to finish in podium position for the 4th time in row. A.Rozītis was able to move up to 3rd position in first few turns and never gave it up by finishing 3rd once again.




Even if the fifth season of this league was rather dissapointing in terms of interest and attendance,racing spirit and competition still was on pretty high level - despite having main title decided before final round,few things kept the intrigue alive until the final chequered flag. A total of 21 entries were made for this season,just 2/3 actually took part,only 10 drivers started in more then 1 round,4 drivers - in all rounds. Average attendance in rounds was just 8 drivers,ranging from 7 (in first and final rounds) to 10 (in round 3). Unlike last season,this year there were couple protests regarding few very unneccesary contacts,but luckily no repeating actions.

AWS 2016 Drivers Champion: A.Valta
There is one similarity to last year - again the new champion A.Valta won half of the season's rounds,finished 3rd and 4th in another 2,while never arrived to final round as he had already his title wrapped up. He also took 3 pole positions and scored another 2 bonus points for fastest lap of the race. 2nd in standings is Mishu,who improved last seasons position - 3rd,he finished 2nd in 3 rounds,was fastest twice in qualifying and 3 times set the fastest lap of the race (in Winter 200 - tied fastest lap). After entering league just in round 3,Marex was able to climb up standings and finished the season in 3rd place - he was the other driver beside the champion,who was able to win races as he collected up the other 3 wins,also 2 fastest laps are in his account (one of them is the shared one from Winter 200). A.Rozītis finished 3rd 3 times in this season and in top6 in other 3 rounds - he is the highest in standings from 3 drivers,who finished in all 6 rounds,last year he finished in 12th position,this year he improved to 4th in final standings. Rony stepped on the podium only once (2nd position in NewYear City Challenge),but also grabbed the "remaining" pole position by setting fastest lap in Winter 200's qualifying - he also improved last years achievement,but just by 1 position - from 6th to 5th.

AWS 2016 Rookie of the Year: A.Valta
And again AWS Rookie of the Year is the champion - A.Valta is already the 3rd driver in row,who takes all the glory being "newbie" in AWS.

AWS 2016 FXR Master: dynX Mishu
Two 2nd place finishes and one 6th position was enough to take this individual title with relatively safe gap - last year Mishu was 4th in this chart.

AWS 2016 RB4 Master: A.Valta
15 points gap is pretty impressive for 3 round competition - 2 wins,a 3rd place position and few bonus points guaranteed this title for A.Valta.

AWS 2016 Cross Challenge winner: A.Valta
Just 2 rounds for this award,but still someone can be awarded of being best at specific discipline. 2 pole positions,1 win,1 3rd place position and a fastest lap - barely anyone can be better than this.

AWS 2016 Teams Champions: Race Green Autosports
4th season in row the hosting team takes the teams award - allthough not unchallenged this year,as the lead in final standings is just 5 points. One 2nd place finish,one 3rd place finish and a pole position is barely an outstanding performance,but with just 2 drivers it's still an achievement to be on top.

AWS 2016 Nations Cup winners: Latvia
In AWS there has never been other Nations Cup winner than Latvia - and this season is not different. Despite heavy challenge from another northern country Finland,Latvia was able to stretch out the 15 points gap at the end of season despite not leading the table after 1st half of the season. 3 wins,8 podium finishes,1 pole position and 2 fastest laps in Latvia's bag this year.

Once again, THANKS for organising this Rony! Gratz, to all podium finishers.
I just wish I would've joined it since the begining, probably would be fighting for the 1st place at the end, but it is as it is. Also thanks to all competitors, especially Mishu, had some nice driving together.