Layout Racing League - Round 0, Mid-Town, Race Summary
The pre-season race was one to remember, with tight, hard-fought battles through the field to the finish.
It was 9397 asserting his dominance and leapfrogging his rivals to cross the line and claim his and the series' maiden win!
Qualifying
The streets of the Mid-Town Ring proved to be tricky and slippery, catching out certain drivers throughout the session. Katila topped the sheets early before 9397 set the pace and stood on provisional pole before 6Speed's Getrag pipped him right at the end. Them being the only two drivers to dip into the 35's, 3rd place was taken by Air Support's Kadir, closely followed by World Class Lion's Katila, who took forth from Cyankill by less than 4 hundredths of a second.
GT4Tube put in a great lap to secure 7th, upholding the cruise community while Kage and biroot rounded up the rear, 3 seconds down on the pole time.
Race
7. Vinsu +6L Accident 8. Cyankill +8L Mechanical 9. Getrag +9L Mechanical 10. Kage +15L Mechanical
Fastest Lap : 9397 - 1:36.07
Penalties :
Vinsu 25 SECOND POST-RACE TIME PENALTY - DRIVING INFRINGEMENT
Getrag DRIVE THROUGH PENALTY - PIT EXIT VIOLATION
The race proved to be full of action and errors, with mid-field battles lasting from lights to flag. No one was certain who was going to win, with the pit-stop bringing traffic into play.
Getrag leading the field through the opening laps
On the start, it was boost-time for Getrag, creating a gap to the rest. 9397 made a poor getaway, with Katila and Kadir getting the jump into turn 1. The field was relatively well-behaved in the opening laps, with no major incidents, apart from a careless tap from Vinsu onto Rydh which sent the latter into a spin down into the Carpark Hairpin. Vinsu would later retire, nullifying his post-race penalty for the incident.
Rydh getting the lightest of love taps, going round down at Turn 6
The first stint of the race witnessed tough battling for the podium spots, with pushing and shoving between the pack, all with great respect. 9397 eventually came out on top, with Kadir and Cyankill fighting hard for the final step of the podium.
Lap 4 and the tough street-circuit caught out its first victim, with Cyankill clipping the exit wall at Saxon Gate Chicane and coming undone from 4th position. Katila advanced up to 4th while Cyan lost ground waiting for the drivers to pass before rejoining.
Cyan would later retire the car on Lap 14, after making 2 pit-stops following camber damage, citing the huge gap to the cars ahead as the cause. A pity as with the pace he had a podium challenge would have definitely be on the cards.
An error from drivers seeing free positions being given away
A couple of laps later, Kadir dropped it coming in to Turn 3, running down the escape route and letting 9397 up into 2nd place.
Kage brought the car into the garage on Lap 7 with suspension damage, taking it one too far with flirting with the barriers on pit entry, ending what was a miserable race in last place.
Getrag fell foul of the pit-exit line coming out of his pit stop, receiving a Drive-Through Penalty, which would ultimately see him drop down to 3rd place behind 9397 and Kadir, before retiring from the race. A sad ending to his race which was proving to be strong and possibly an easy win!
As the race wore on, drivers felt the fatigue of a street circuit, most drivers scraping their cars along the walls and pushing too hard. With only 5 laps to go, GT4Tube made his one and only pit stop, putting in a great in lap to come out ahead of Rydh, and began to hunt for the podium spot and close the gap to the struggling Kadir ahead.
Kadir slipped and slid, struggling with tire temperature with only 2 laps remaining, and the Cruise sensation was slowly catching up. With no safety-car in sight, it looked like the Air Support rookie would be easy takings, however, Kadir managed his tires well enough to maintain the gap at the close of the race and take home a well-deserved 3rd place. Rydh himself felt the brunt of one of the walls in Sector 2 and dropped back from the podium charge, leaving GT4tube to bring home 4th, an excellent result!
Carpark Hairpin, Turn 6
Podium Ceremony, (from left) Kadir, P3, 9397 P1, Katila P2
However it was 9397 who took the race win, setting the fastest lap in the process ahead of Kadir and Katila!
An interesting race with the turnout we had and we hope to see much more action in Round 1 of the LRL - Layout Racing League.
Thank you to all participants for this race and congratulations to our race podium finishers! Race and Qualifying replays are attached.
Stay tuned for more information regarding the series start formally.
