Monday,19th September
17:30 UTC / 19:30 CET / 20:30 EET
The new VERL challenge started almost 2 weeks ago,now it's time to continue it - everyone still has a chance to join the action and with great performance even mix in the fight for the championship glory as nothing is decided yet. Even better - especially in both teams and nations competitions additional signups might have a deciding effect towards either current leaders or chasers.
The shortest and bumpiest track is next up - sneaking through few left containers the 2.5km course has plenty of challenging turns and their combinations. Front stretch is over 30 meters wide for most of it's length,but narrows a lot through the 1st turn,where drivers will feel the lack of modern formula cars' downforce which VERL 2022 car does not have - rest of the track has rather slow turns,meaning that precise handling and throttle control will be the key to success. The pitlane does not have a mandatory speed limit,however the tight chicanes on both ends of it will slow cars down for additional safety in case many drivers decide for same fuel strategy.
ZFRL•Motimoukari - receives 1 lap penalty (conversion of 60s penalty in this round as per rules) for multiple avoidable incidents on lap 1
S1DUS*GáboR - receives a warning for offensive language
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2nd round brought new cars in the sprint-like maze layed out in container storage field near Blackwood's actual GP track. The 80 laps distance was completed 20 seconds faster than last year with the old car - best laptime in qualifying was faster,but fastest lap of the race was slower than last year's best effort in each case. Race started with few ugly incidents,leading to damages for many drivers,only later the actual race went on,demanding high endurance from the drivers.
Fastest driver in qualifying was the only one who was able to escape all troubles and was leading the field by 6 seconds after comleting 1st lap. Fatal led all 80 laps and collected all 22 points from this round,scoring 3rd VERL win for himself - he's the 6th driver to reach this count of wins. Thehemuli started from outside of 3-wide grid and had some adventures on lap 1,but quickly gained 2nd position,finishing as the last driver on lead lap. Last year's 3rd best rookie scored his 1st ever podium finish - the 2nd position is 3 positions better than his previous best achievement. For 2nd race in row 3rd position was taken by driver who finished last year's standings in same position. Unite qualified in the low 10th position,but had a lot of progress through field in the race - with +7 he is the best climber of the race.
As always 2nd round marks the current trend in the championship - by scoring all 44 points from first 2 rounds,Fatal has built a solid gap over competition and placed himself as top candidate for drivers title. 2nd in standings is Unite with 16 points gap to leader,closelly followed by Thehemuli in 3rd. Motimoukari is still leading the 2-men rookie competition over his teammate LG-mies,but his lead is reduced by 1 point due his penalty.
With one of the drivers retiring,defending teams champions S1dus now have lost most of their lead and now are just a single point ahead of team of current drivers standings leader - Fragmasters. Zafiralis scored most points in this round and moved up to 3rd position,currently 6 points behind leaders. Nations cup is effectivelly over - Finland has already 56 points gap over closest followers,which is estimated more than any other nation will score in whole season - most of the other nations has only 1 points scorer. The competition is only for 2nd position in this table,currently posessed by Latvia,but competition is tight as positions 2-5 are seperated by a single point between each other.
The middle round of the season is the only trip outside England - it's the 2nd edition of Caribbean 200,which again will be held in Fern Bay's Gold configuration. With 3.5km length it's the 2nd shortest track of the season and surely will challenge drivers with it's various turns and their combinations.
