Layout Racing League - Round 2, Mid-Town Ring, Race Summary
The grid jumps across the LFS virtual globe to Blackwood Custom, for Round 2 at challenging Mid-Town Ring! Racers battled hard, but fair, providing great racing but it was
[TC-R] Pete who took the hat-trick - the qualifying, race win and fastest lap!
Qualifying
Drivers turned up for Round 2 of LRL eager to advance in the championship. Qualifying was once again very tense, with Pete setting the early pace ahead of Trespasser. The tight confines of the circuit saw drivers struggle to find an opening to set a clean lap, with the mid-field pace being ridiculously close, separated by tenths.
However, it was Pete who nailed a stunning hot lap to put himself 7 tenths ahead of closest rival, new-comer B2r spiky, who himself put a great lap to take P2 ahead of the championship leader, Trespasser.
RG Mandula, having had only a few laps on the circuit, put in a respectable time to sneak into the top 10 ahead of Michal. For the first time, we see two drivers - Matt and Suzuki, fail to make the cut for the race, qualifying outside the 107% requirement time.
Race
16. PitlaneRacer +2L Technical,
17. AA|Azyer +11L Mechanical,
18. [AMG] Derinus +14L Mechnical,
19. Matt +22L DNQ,
20. Suzuki +22L DNQ
Fastest Lap : [TC] Pete - 1:35.18
Penalties :
AA|Azyer DRIVE THROUGH PENALTY - PIT EXIT VIOLATION
Round 2 throws the drivers into the high speed Mid-Town Ring, and it was a spectacle!
Pete leads the charge down into the braking zone at Turn 3
It was a clean getaway for the field, tussling hard but cleanly as they exited Turn 1. Trespasser managed to pass Spiky to take 2nd down to the sweeping left hander as Pete clocked out and pulled away from the cars behind. Further back, Derinus out-braked himself into the first turn, dropping spots, while Sobis had a poor start, dropping from 14th down to the back of the grid, before repassing PitlaneRacer and Soini, who scraped the wall down the back straight!
The well-behaved field into the Carpark Hairpin
A man on the move
As the field settled into position, Ngottini, who qualified towards the rear of the field, appeared to have a better race pace, and was soon crawling his way up the order, passing several rivals to be in 11th by the 3rd lap; he would later go on the finish a well-earned 8th! Sobis, who was dropped to the rear, was also moving up the pack, making a very hairy pass on Jeff for 12th down to Turn 3.
The talking point of the race - racing incident, bad driving, or something else?
Lap 5 and the battle for 6th was hotting up between 9397 and Azyer. Heading down the back straight into Turn 3 - contact is made! Azyer is sent into a half spin against the barrier, causing drivers behind to take avoiding action. Mandula brakes to avoid the out-of-control car, and Derinus brakes as well. LCS-R Texas however, unsighted, barrels into him at unabated speed, sending the AMG driver spinning on the track, before being collected once more by MRc Michal, left with no where to go! Major damage to both Michal and Derinus, the latter subsequently retiring out of a strong top-10 position.
Post-race, the race stewards have decided that the 9397-Azyer incident is a Racing Incident. Both drivers misjudged the amount of space they had, with 9397 not running a tight-enough line, and Azyer squeezing him too much, coming off worse. What do you think of this decision?
The battle for 4th position
The race settled into place, as the pit-stop sequence cycled through itself, kicked off by Ngottini. Mandula and Azyer were the first of the mid-field to take their pit-stops, with Azyer running astray over the pit-exit line, receiving a Drive-Through Penalty, and retiring shortly after with damage from his earlier scuffle. Out at the front, the top 4 were still yet to pit, with Pete now having a staggering 9-second lead to Trespasser in 2nd, who was safely ahead of Spiky, with the B2r driver now coming under sustained pressure from [6S] SIMOX.
Dominating the race, Pete emerged back in the lead after his pit
The Saxon Gate chicane was waiting to claim it's first victim, and it was GT4tube who kissed it, sending him into a spin and back down the order, eventually finishing last in 15th, a disappointment considering his good finish during the Pre-Season race! Lap 13 saw Trespasser pit from 2nd in the race, hoping to gain an undercut or benefit from a Safety Car, however, the following lap saw race leader Pete pit for his compulsory pit stop, having built such a commanding lead that he emerged out back in the lead, ahead of the battle between Spiky and SIMOX for effective 3rd.
Simox pitted after a race-long battle for the podium with Spiky, hoping to leap ahead of him, with Spiky being off-pace. However, Simox emerged right behind Trespasser, who was struggling in his second stint, and this battle was hurting both drivers badly; so much so, that on the penultimate lap, Spiky pit and came out ahead of both!
Overtake of the race - Trespasser passes Spiky
Trespasser did not leave anything to chance, passing freshly-pitted Spiky right around the outside into Turn 2 for 2nd, an unprecedented passing maneuver, surely the moment of the race! With the bad exit out of the corner, Spiky had to defend from SIMOX, going side-by-side into Turn 3, with minimal contact, fending off to finish on the podium.
Meanwhile, at the front it was [TC-R] Pete stamping his dominance and claiming his first win in LRL, ahead of his main rival Trespasser, with Spiky finishing in 3rd ahead of Simox and 9397, whom had managed to jump several drivers like Katila in the pit stops. Ngottini and Sobis both found themselves in the points after a great drive, with Jeff and [MRc] KIG just missing out on the final point.
With the fastest lap going to Pete once more, he gets an extra point, and moves himself into top spot in the driver's championship.
Driver's Championship
An exciting championship is ahead - see you for the next race in 2 week's time,
29 June 2019 (date to be confirmed) for Round 3 at Lmaoring!
Round 3 - Lmaoring, GTi (29 June 2019) - TO BE CONFIRMED
Round 4 - Scawen's Racetrack, LX4 (6 July 2019)
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