OFFICIAL RACE RESULTS PENDING
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The Skye Circuit, crafted by fellow layoutter Sinanju, played host to Round 3 of Layout Racing League, and drivers had much fun with battles throughout the grid!
Qualifying Result
It was Team Winners dod1slaw who grabbed pole from TAV's Suforr by a narrow margin, trading fastest lap throughout the entire qualifying session. Maty14 represented Master Race Car, with an impressive 3rd in front of Race Green's NOSLE and then S1DUS's Rik, who had minimal practice. AirAttack's Sean made a surprise entry in 6th, ahead of DLV. Total of 15 cars took qualifying, missing some key drivers whom could not make the event - still, the racing itself proved to be spectacularly good!
The race start
It was an good getaway and eventual win for TAV's Suforr, who passed polesitter Dod1slaw and never looked back, holding a strong lead as the rest battled for position behind him. Early spins from Raicyl and Radibiserow saw them drop out of contention, while contact in lap 1 through the fast chicane between NOSLE and Maty saw the latter drop to 7th, while Rik battled DLV and the recovering NOSLE for the opening few laps.
With subtle loss of aero from dirty air, drivers were encouraged to follow closely behind, which made long battle trains a spectacle to watch, in particular, a 5 car train for P3 held by NOSLE. A crash from TAV's Shini put him out of 13th and brought out the Safety Car, of which some drivers elected to pit, while others not - Suforr, NOSLE and Sean elected to stay out to try to build a gap.
Early safety car
Safety Car ended and immediately produced a spinner when Rik was facing backwards after car contact - the second of three spins he had, eventually recovering to a P2 finish after great late-race pace. Suforr was never challenged, leading from Lap 1 till the end, after having a big enough gap for a pit stop, courtesy for hard-fought battles for second place, led by the widest Skip Barber car driven by NOSLE.
Aeroplane crash
At the mid point, the five-car NOSLE train was at its peak, and through the chicane, a side-by-side battle turned sour when contact saw the Race Green driver gain some much-earned breathing space, with dod1slaw and Sean regrouping, albeit having lost a place each to Rik.
A podium of varying degree of effort
Eventually, dod1slaw found a way past NOSLE and took P3 to the flag, a far distance behind the rapid S1DUS's Rik in P2, who, in just 10 laps, closed a 16 second gap to just 6. With a couple of laps remaining, Race Green's NOSLE blinked first and made his compulsory pit stop, and with some fast overcut laps, AirAttack's Sean managed, just, to snatch away P4.
No one however, could stop Suforr, who claimed win number 2 of Season 5, a well earned victory in possibly an unexpected scenario.
P5 and P6 went to the Race Green duo of NOSLE and M@ciek who both kept each other honest in the final few laps, with Rubi narrowly missing out on snatching 6th from the latter right on the line. MRc's Texas finished in the points down in 11th, the last of the runners, having had zero laps of practice prior to joining - a valiant effort.
Provisional Race result
Layout Racing League returns on 08 March 2025 to a familiar and extremely fun venue - Scawen's Racetrack. One of the legacy layouts, certain to produce some fiesty racing. See you then!
Layout Racing League Round 3 - Skye Circuit by Sinanju, event starts soon in 30 minutes at 1500 UTC.