Rony Kronpuss taking the chequered flag with a damaged car, just ahead of Mazdarati
After a difficult start of the season at the Lorenzring, RONY KRONPUSS takes a glorious victory in Blackwood Outskirts!
The LMP1 Summer Champion conducted a stellar race, jumping ahead of [MRC] Texas & THR Mazdarati at the start of the race.
Rony spent all of the race in front, controlling the pace: his only worries came later in the race when a contact with the barriers damaged his green McLarry, making it even more difficult to drive than usual.
News of Rony struggles came to THR Mazdarati, LMP2 Summer Champion and current leader of the Winter Serie: he started to push with 8 laps to go and the gap to Rony started to shrink down from 12 to 5 seconds.
The last lap was tense, with Rony struggling to hold on to his damaged car and Mazdarati closing the gap even more: he could see his rival in the last few corners, just 50 meters ahead.
Last corner, pedal to the metal, Rony took the Chequered Flag in triumph with just 2,18 seconds over Mazdarati!
The closest Overall finish ever in the History of Retro, and a great race decided at the very last meter!
Can now Rony challenge for the title in his "Green Dinosaur" prototype?
The Podium is completed by [MRC] Zesty, who fought all race long against his team-mate, [MRC] Texas, who finished a lap behind after a last lap issue.
Drama and disappointment for a title conteder, RG^Lorenzo, who lost control of the car in the Roundabout section and got tangled by the GT car of MadJester: the impact sent the Race Green driver in the air and into a rollover.
Just a few bruises for him, but with this DNF his title chances are now getting slimmer!
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In HYPERCARS, it was another domination display by team ZFRL and its leader, Thehemuli.
He started in Pole Position ahead of team-mate LG-Mies and JEDATTO; first lap went smooth, as Thehemuli already made a gap in the first few corners.
Behind, the fight for P2 intensified as LG-Mies slammed in the outside wall of the Paddock section, JEDATTO had to avoid him in the very last meter, but he managed it and took provisional P2.
The two of them fought wheel to wheel soon after, taking the long U corner in sector 2 side by side; eventually, LG-Mies took P2.
JEDATTO crashed out later on in the race, leaving the ZFRL duo alone on track for the Hypercar class.
It as another dominant win by Thehemuli who makes 2 in a row and already have one hand on the class title ahead of the Kyoto Ring race.
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The GT CLASS saw 4 cars taking the start of the race: in pole position started [WCL] Arska, who started well and pushed his Piran Firefly 300 car through the bends of Blackwood with great confidence.
Behind him, /SRP/ Hachiroku looked like he had the pace to challenge the WCL driver: the two of them lapped nearly identical in the first lap, but than Hachiroku made a mistake in the bridge section, losing contact with the leader.
Arska's race was so impressive he finished ahead of LG-Mies, who's driving an Hypercar.
2nd place in GT for Jam 616, who was the only GT driver to finish the race without a pit-stop.
3rd place for debutant CRAAACH, who kept it relatively clean for his first class podium of the season!
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For the second race in a row, the PORSCHE CUP was the most crowded class of the field.
6 cars took the start of the race, led by S.Martin who took a great pole position, but struggled at the get-go, losing two positions in favour of Madjester & the porsche whisperer RG^M@ci3k.
Madjester pushed a lot in the first few laps, but M@ci3k of Race Green always kept his bumper close to the leader's tail, putting pressure.
The overtake for the lead happened in Lap 4, as M@ci3k took the inside line at the Bridge Hairpin; clean pass, eyes on the victory.
But behind, another driver was making a storming comeback: RD2 of Race Green started to set fastest laps and quickly managed to close the gap to Madjester: the two of them started a long lasting, fierce fight, ended on Lap 8 with a brave overtake by RD2 on the oustide of Madjester in Turn 1.
Win looked almost certain for the Summer Champion M@ci3k in front, but his teammate RD2 managed to gain precious seconds in the central part of the race, cutting the gap down to only 2 seconds in Lap 16.
M@ci3k eventually made a pit-stop, gifting the lead of the race to his team-mate RD2, who took the chequered flag in solitary fashion!
S.Martin managed to comeback after his difficult start of the race and to climb back till P3 in class, another strong drive by him.
Difficult one for Lorenzring winner GUM||Donald, who struggled with the pace since Lap 1 and ended second last, behind Madjester and only in front of newcomer EvilMe.
OFFICIAL RESULTS ------------------------------
QUALIFYING
RACE
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS ------------------------------
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The drivers of the Retro Cup will now take a long flight to Japan, for the penultimate round of the season.
Kyoto Ring's Maximum Track awaits them: a monster track, long and technical, that will highlight the skills of the drivers and their endurance.
See you on Monday!
