The 6th AWS season obviously starts to close up to it's end - attendance drops,intrigue rises and the situation in table could not be better for some popcorn action. But first things first - championship standings' 2nd place owner Marex found out best how to handle the car in conditions it's not ment for,as he picked up the whole points package available for one driver in one round. He was the only one to beat 59 seconds mark in qualifying (in old Blackwood version also 58 seconds mark was cracked) and he also never gave up his lead during his run to 1st win of the season. The winner of the 1st rallycross round Dzidoris finished 2nd,with Arska completing the podium. Who is still unmentioned? Yes,the before round championship leader - V.Laguckas did qualify 2nd and was keeping the position for the most of the race,but he jumped over jumps too agressively,breaking a damper. After few laps of struggle he finished the other rear damper too and had to withdraw to pits for repairs,ending in 6th place,1 lap behind winner.
If the break was hard for championship leader,for series followers it's almost great - with one round to come,lead between 2 leading drivers in standings now is just 1 point,meaning whoever finishes higher,wins the title,unless lower finisher scores bonus points,which multiplies the possible championship outcomes,without real chances to predict anything before the race. Marex has now taken over the lead and is just 1 point ahead of V.Laguckas,while Dzidoris has still theoretical chance,as he is within the striking distance - 10 points to leader. Of course his chances need to include top2 finish and disaster for both leaders. But Dzidoris can already celebrate,as he has already secured Rookie of the Year award - he is 28 points ahead of 2nd position P.Butcher.
Also Marex has already one title in his hands - with win in final round,he overtook previous leader and clinched the FXR Master award,finishing in top5 in all 3 rounds. Also Cross Challenge ended in 5th round of the season - with win and 2nd place finish Dzidoris is the award winner. And with practically no competition and barely any effort,Smart becomes the S2 Challenge award winner and will receive during this week the first prize of this AWS season - LFS voucher worth £12.
Meanwhile in Teams Championship MTDZX has a great shot to win the title,as they need to collect just 4 points in the final round - even if they lead by 12 points (with 26 points possible) over closest rivals,both teams that still can overtake MTDZX have only 1 driver qualified for the final round. Defending champions are already out of chances to defend the title. The podium is already clear in Nations Cup,what is still unclear is the order of nations on it. Lithuania leads now by 15 points over Finland and one more point over defending champions Latvia,but previous oval round saw Lithuania lose 19 points to Finland,which means great intrigue also in Nations Cup before final round.
The season finale is up next - it was a tradition to have an oval race as season decider,last year was different,but this year we're back to this tradition. Well,sort of... It will not be FXR. And it will also not be Kyoto Oval. But the challenge will be similar - high speeds,wide track,lots opponents near you. In addition comes also tyre management and tighter turns,as AWS Rockingham 150 will be held in 2.4km 4-turn low banked Rockingham Oval. Slingshot drafting will be rather unefficient,bumpdrafting probably will add even more load to the troubled tyres - who will be the best in the combo never seen in any other league? And more importantly - who will become the 6th AWS Drivers Champion? 19th march evening will give us all the answers!