Penalties:
[STO] K.Gaspuitis - WARNING for joining the track in race without qualifying.
*note: as per rules only drivers from championship standings top 10 may start the race without qualifying!


In terms of leader,round 2 was no different then round 1 - A.Wiśniewski dominated the race again,allthough he did not lead every single lap,as series newcomer Altsu starting also from front row passed A.Wiśniewski in turn one and run away to lead lap 1,but he made a mistake early in lap 2 and retired right away. Rest of the race for leading few racers consisted from minimal position changes and keeping the concentration to increase or at least hold the gap from followers. This time winners advantage exceeded half of a minute,while there were no really close gaps between any cars at the finish.



If round 1 showed who could be the champion,round 2 now confirmed that there is a distinctive leader in series,as A.Wiśniewski leads by a gap of 19 points,which is more then 2nd place has collected in total. Since leader is running away from the rest,probably the most focus could be taken on battle for 2nd place - A.Rozītis and Mishu have just 1 point gap between in favour for the latvian,while rest of the field aren't too far either. Seems like there is no need to discuss Rookie of the Year award winner,as the solid series leader is a newcomer to VERL. But the battle between S2 licenced racers for the free ticked for final round in S3 environment seemingly starts to heat up,as B.Keough with just 1 round attendance trails by 3 points to Mishu,who has finished in both,allthough both have 2nd place finishes as their best results.

Due series leader's performance,also his team Vires has a solid lead over their competition - Sex Tourism Organizers have earned only half of the points Vires has,World Class Lions are 3rd with just one point less then STO. Nations Cup is the championship with smallest lead - Portugal leads over Finland by "just" 8 points,with Latvia 3rd,another 4 points back.

After 40% of series done,most of the season is still to come - even if we have a leader,who can miss next round and still cannot lose his lead,standings still might change drastically with few lucky or unlucky flukes,especially new reinforcements could change teams and/or nations order in very different ways! With next round held at a very tricky Westhill National course,any driving improvements and misshaps can make or break the series chances for the drivers.

Server's been down for a day or so?

Also, hate to do this, but does anyone have any WE National base sets they could share? I've only got old WE1 sets that feel totally awful.

there's a couple here https://www.lfs.net/files/setups/FO8/WE00 I haven't tried them myself though.

Hmm, not bad, actually.

Really tricky track, this one.

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Server's been down for a day or so?

Not sure why server was stopped at control panel,but it's online now!

After one of the fastest configurations,next round of VERL 2016 will be held in much slower racing course - the twisty and tricky Westhill National. Quite a lot of elevation,few fast parts and many throttle control turns makes the track a good workout even for the best. Question is - can you reach the finish of the 46 lap race on same set of tyres?
2 of 5 rounds are already completed and Drivers Championship has a quite dominant leader,after this round we will know if rest of the season will be just fight to be 2nd best or will we have still some sparkle in championship battle. In any case,teams and nations winners are still wide open and anyone can still make a good break in lead! As always sign ups are open until 17:20 UTC (10 minutes before round start).

Round info:
Track: Westhill National (WE1)
Laps: 46
Previous winner: S M.Kapal

Server info and password will be PM'ed saturday to all entrants,until then server remains publically accessible:
V8 Racing League

Server is now passworded and password has been sent to all entrants via PM.

LFSW name: kamikas
In-game name: Kamikas
Full team name:
Nation: Estonia

Qualifying:


Race:


MPR download

If you want to make a protest,please include all neccesary information.
Template:

Quote :

Session:
Lap/MPR time:
Involved drivers:
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Deadline for protests - monday,20:00 UTC

Sorry I couldn't make it today... real life intervened. Hope to compete next round and fight with Mishu for the S3 license.

LFSW name: Forbin
In-game name: Forbin
Full team name:
Nation: USA

Whoa!

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Whoa!

xD

I miss the FO8. I'm honestly a bit surprised (in a good way) to see a series running it unrestricted, and without alternating with the FOX and/or FBM. Also, no safety car or mandatory pit. It's my kind of series.

FO8 is my favourite LFS car,but when NDR gave up on LFSCART,someone had to step up and fill the gap - since noone did it,I had to do it myself. Because I like to race myself too,series had to be rather simple without needing live admining,that's why I picked a decent race distance leaving rest pretty free,with competitors' protests for clean racing base. Never hoped for full grids,but still there are some enthusiasts to join racing,so the stuff works,even now in so called "hard times" for LFS.

Quote from Forbin :

LFSW name: Forbin
In-game name: Forbin
Full team name:
Nation: USA

LFSW name: Forbin
In-game name: CoRe S.Souders
Full team name: CoRe Racing
Nation: USA

Just like in first 2 rounds,A.Wiśniewski kept dominating as he set the best laptime in qualifying and pulled away from the rest during race,but with 5 laps to go he couldn't trust the worn tyres anymore and stopped at pits for a new set,thus giving the lead away. So in 3rd round of 2016 VERL series we have a new winner - Sermilan was able to finish without a pitstop and did not gave the lead away to take the victory,also scoring first points of the season for last year's Teams Champions. A.Wiśniewski had to settle for runner up position,still taking both bonus points and extending his lead in series,while VERL newcomer Kamikas from Estonia finished 3rd.



Despite not taking another win,A.Wiśniewski keeps the lead by more then a half of his points amount and now can secure the title in next round by just finishing in top 3 without even watching how closest rivals are doing. In 2nd place still is A.Rozītis,who has now 7 points gap to 3rd place owner Mishu,while positions 3-16 are covered by just 10 points,meaning that final 2 rounds of the season will bring a lot of movement in these positions. Rookie of the Year award is almost in A.Wiśniewski's pocket - he needs to score just 2 points during the rest of the season to secure it. The biggest intrigue before 4th round brings the competition between S2 users - after 4th round of the series,best of them will receive an LFS voucher to upgrade their licence and be able to join the season finale in S3 track Rockingham with earned free ticket. During round 3 seemed like Mishu gonna step a huge step towards the prize,but his connection gave up with 11 laps to go and he lost possible 10 points,leaving the race to Rockingham through South City with another 4 challengers chasing quite close - Munix is 2 points behind,B.Keough - 5,M.Strutter - 6 and Kamikas 7 points behind.

Vires is still at the solid top of Teams Championship after scoring double the points of 2nd place team STO with WCL still 3rd,but now already 7 points apart. Also in this championship battle for 3rd is very close - only 5 points seperate positions 3-8. Nations Cup is the least secured title of all - Portugal did increase the lead by 2 points during last round,but 10 points gap with 29 points possible per round in anything but secure. Finland is still 2nd,Latvia keeps 3rd,keeping the gap to 2nd place in status quo.

"Just" 2 rounds left in VERL 2016 series,we still have quite few intrigues ahead,where a lot of changes can happen. Also next round will be the last one for any new entry to join the league table as in final round only drivers,who scored points during first 4 rounds,will be able to compete in first VERL race at Rockingham. Instead of usual 2 weeks break,round 4 is 3 weeks apart from previous round - the South City will be ready to welcome VERL racers for South City 200 - the temporary street course will feature the biggest lapcount of the season as Town Course has to be lapped 64 times to reach league's nominal distance of 200 kilometers.

LFSW name: n gin
In-game name: A.Valta
Full team name: -
Nation: Finland

LFSW name: keskitalo
In-game name: Keskitalo#58
Full team name: -
Nation: Finland

After 3 weeks break,VERL will be back this sunday with a very deciding round of the season - mainly it will be decided,who will race also in final round in series: first - who from S2 licenced drivers will have a free ticked to Rockingham,the hosting venue for the final round of series,second - who from the rest will be able to take part in inaugural Rockingham V8 200,as only drivers,who have scored points during season will be allowed to start! Also the fate of 3 awards can be decided - series leader A.Wiśniewski can decide main title for himself,while Rookie of the Year title is almost secured,also his team Vires can clinch Teams Championship if things go right,while Nations Cup should stay open for decision.
After the very twisty Westhill National circuit,an even more twisty racetrack is presented for this round - the 3.1 kilometers long temporary street circuit at South City features everything between a tight hairpin and very fast turns. Tyres should be less of a worry here than in Westhill,but can you keep the car off the ever closing walls for 64 laps?

Round info:
Track: South City Town Course (SO5)
Laps: 64
Previous winner: [SR] S.Litmanen

Server info and password will be PM'ed saturday to all entrants,until then server remains publically accessible:
V8 Racing League

Server is now passworded and password has been sent to all entrants via PM.

Note: Signups for VERL 2016 season will be closed 17:20 UTC / 19:20 CET (10 minutes before qualifying start)!

Qualifying:


Race:


MPR download

If you want to make a protest,please include all neccesary information.

Quote :

Template:
Session:
Lap/MPR time:
Involved drivers:
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Deadline for protests - monday,20:00 UTC

PS. LFS voucher prize will be handed out after official results will be posted! (estimated tuesday evening)

Unlike in previous 3 rounds,A.Wiśniewski wasn't dominating this race - main reason of course was the fact,that he was absent from VERL 2016 round 4. So the leading job had to be taken by someone else - every meter of South City 200 was led by VERL first-timer S.Souders,allthough her margin of victory was under 2 seconds. Despite lacking overtakes and fights,race was still quite interesting to be in,as only the leader wasn't hardly chasing someone - rest were trying hard to catch a driver ahead or at least not let anyone closer to comfort zone. With variating gap to leader through the race,Mishu still had to settle for 2nd place,even if it's still an improvement from qualifying results,while Kamikas repeated numbers of last race and finished 3rd from 2nd place on grid.



Because of low finishing position of Drivers Championship's 2nd place driver,A.Wiśniewski's absense did not damage the chance of clinching VERL 2016 title - he is still 19 points ahead of A.Rozītis with 17 points possible (+1 point closer if leader does not attend) to earn during one round. But VERL intrigue isn't over - last round still has potential of fireworks on track as difference between 2nd place and 3rd is just 1 point. No calculation is needed - 2nd place in standings will be taken either by A.Rozītis or Mishu,whoever finishes higher in Series final race,unless they both fail to score decent points and someone from other closer followers wins,as the points situation is still very tight - just 4 points difference between 4th and 10th (unfortunatelly 4th and 5th positions are S2 licenced and cannot challenge unless they upgrade). Also Rookie of the Year title is now officially taken by A.Wiśniewski's,which was practically secured already.

Despite 2 of contenders finishing 2nd and 3rd,battle for LFS voucher for licence upgrade finished with 9 points difference in favour to Mishu,who will receive his prize later this evening and hopefully will join season finale at freshly unlocked track. 2nd was Kamikas,3rd - M.Strutter. There were another 3 S2 users participating,but only one of them attended in more then 1 round.

With absense of championship leader,also his team sees distance to competition reduced - STO now is within striking distance with 18 points gap (29 possible) while having 3 eligible drivers. Another point back is CoRe,but currently only one their drivers has access to Rockingham. Nations Cup saw something unseen this season - a leader change in points table! Finland is the new leader,5 points ahead of Portugal,with Latvia in 3rd,another 5 points behind. Currently highest finn in standings also is just S2 licenced,meaning that situation still might change,but Finland surely has still some good drivers,as 3 of them have top 5 finish positions in pocket this season. Theoretically also United States is in striking distance,but again the same problem as for CoRe - only one of them is S3 licenced.

With only Rockingham V8 200 left on series calendar,some of intrigues might be vanished,but everyone still find some motivation - either to improve or hold his position in final standings,help his team or nation,or the best motiviation - to become the first Rockingham V8 Racing League winner! The modified International Long configuration awaits - the only modification is skipping the useless first chicane,rest of the circuit is like it's original. 50 laps in the almost unknown territory - only practice can tell what is possible and what should be avoided.

Quote from Eclipsed :

...VERL first-timer S.Souders, allthough his margin...

Can you change this to "her"?

Nice write-up, otherwise. I had a lot of fun preparing and racing in a league again, and really surprised myself when I got pole. My heart was pounding after that lap!

Thanks so much for organizing this series!

Quote from Forbin :

Can you change this to "her"?

Oh,didn't knew that...

One might think that after champion has been figured out,league might get boring - let's hope it won't be the case here! A brand new challenging circuit awaits and there are still few things into championship tables to settle,so nothing is over until the chequered flag of final round is waved. And a bit of unknown area is ahead - barely anyone from league participants have raced in longer Rockingham configurations with the Formula V8 in a 200 kilometer race. How the tyres will do during longer race here? How the suspension will deal with casual "sausage" curbs hits? How the racing will be on track that's a bit narrower then average LFS track? There is only one way to find out - joining and racing at VERL season finale - Rockingham V8 200! But that will be possible only for those 25 racers,who have secured their entry tickets during VERL season by scoring at least one point,unfortunatelly 4 of them have not access to S3 content yet.
Small info about the track - it is almost the same as LFS's standart International Long configuration,the only difference is that we will skip the useless and endangering 1st chicane and use the oval part from last hairpin till the first hairpin. Barely exceeding 4 kilometers lap length,race will need 50 laps to reach nominal distance of 200 kilometers. Fast oval section and twisty turns in infield part will surely make everyone to find good compromise between grip and top speed,what will be yours?

Important notice: Due end of daylight saving time in the night before the race,event UTC time has been changed! If time in your country hasn't been changed before the race,make sure you check the correct time of event! CET and EET (and many more) timezones will not be affected.

Round info:
Track: Rockingham International Long w/o Chicane (RO10X)
Laps: 50
Previous winner: inaugural event

Server info and password will be PM'ed saturday to all entrants,until then server remains publically accessible:
V8 Racing League