Monday 6th January, first monday of 2025 but last round of LFS France's 2024 Christmas Open, the drivers went to Blackwood to meet again LFS France's famous RX layout. To conclude this open, it was Stuchlo's great creation, the official Skoda Felicia Kit Car! For this last round, the nervous Czech city car attracted around 18 drivers for the pre-qualifications. And at this game, it's the unavoidable KingOfIce who scored the top position with a 47.23 time on the chronometer. He was followed not too far away by L.Rydh who signed the same exact time! But the Swede made his time later than the 2024 French League's freshly crowned champion. Another strong man of this 2024 open, Derinus had signed the 3rd time, ahead of FSR's boss, System. A third GUM driver was on the top 5, with the Lituanian Donald. Would then follow a Belgian pair with CCRT'S Nex, and NFR's Proxima. Bizo was 8th, in front of LFS France's "minister of laps", Daf. Newcomer Cyk and the last Belgian of the grid, Geraxi, were completing the top 10 out of the 18 drivers. And we could say the Felicia also made the drivers sandblast the laps! On the Top 5, all drivers cumulated, it is about over 1500 laps made! And what to say about Daf, who was faithful of the "minister of laps" nickname the french comunity gave him? He indeed made 975 laps! But infortunately, he was one of those 2 drivers missing at the grid making moment, with MadJester. With 16 drivers at the start, it was set that the top 4 of each semi would qualify to the final, meaning the final and the small final would both have 8 drivers.
Semi 1 : There was KingOfIce... and the others.
For this first semi final, it was the pre-qualification's top sitter that was set to start first, KingOfIce. A 100% GUM Garage front row was set for this first semi, as Derinus and Donald were on his side. The NFR's Belgian brothers were following, with Proxima ahead Geraxi, meanwhile the returning Texas Driver's Loopingz was completing the second row. He was followed by his 2 others team mates on the last row : LeManchot ahead of Papator. At the start, King took a good fly off, so Derinus and Donald did. Ahead the first corner, the Lituanian made sure he wouldn't make a GUM strike and stayed calm behing. But Proxima, and then Geraxi took benefit of that to steal him position. A first drama of the evening happened a couple of corners later, as KingOfIce was leading the pack into the dirt, coming to the long right corner that's sitting on the side of Blackwood's famous pond, Derinus had more speed than his team mate and tried to place his car on the side of his team mate's. Infortunately, that didn't worked, and the doors kissed a bit too harsh, sending Derinus to the rail and down the pack. A moment later, Proxima was the first driver to jump in the joker lap, followed by Donald and... Derinus. Infortunately for Proxima, as he missed his joker corner, he dropped a couple of seconds with his speed loss on the rail. As the second lap started, Papator flipped his car to the roof loosing his good start benefit and forcing him to use a reset followed by a penalty. Geraxi then took his joker lap, going from 2nd to 5th. On the 3rd lap, meanwhile Donald was fighting with Proxima for the 3rd place, it was time for loopings to take his joker and drop back to 5th. With Donald passing Proxima, this meant that the Lituanian would climb 2nd while Proxima stayed 3rd in the end. And in the front? Well, KingOfIce was comfortably sitting in his throne with a good pillow of a gap in front of Daf. He wasn't even insisting : his best lap time was not even the fastest. Meanwhile at this time, Loopingz clinched Geraxi's 4th, and Derinus tried to save his semi by getting LeManchot's 6th place. Then KingOfIce won with +3.25 seconds on Donald, while Proxima stayed on the last step. His last sector pass on Geraxi meant that Loopingz were qualified to the final for his return, getting the last spot into the final.
Semi 2 : Nex to take a surprise win!
On this second semi final, we would see the other fastest qualifier with Team Winners' L.Rydh on pole position. System and Nex were on his side on the first row. Meanwhile Bizo and newcomer Cyk were acompanied by KingJr on the second row. Nanex and Tomfuel, who also was returning after a forced racing break, were on the last row. And the light didn't got time to pass to green that we had the first drama of this semi! Indeed, L.Rydh slipped his clutch and left his starting spot... The Blackwood's marshalls immediatly set him a stop-go penalty for false start! But then the Swede still took a normal race start, but nearly missed the first corner going wide! Nex was trying to pass him on the inside, and got the unexpected help of System who bumped the rear of his Felicia. Taking profit of this moment, Bizo stole his team mate position to climb 3rd. Tomfuel then collided with KingJr after the pond's corner, their doors didn't wanted to hug, and infortunately Tom ended up on the rail, just a few meter further than where Derinus crashed earlier on semi 1. At the end of the first lap, L.Rydh was the first one to jump on the joker lap, followed by System, Cyk, Nanex and Tomfuel. KingJr was temporarily in third, but on the second lap, L.Rydh got the position from him. And KingOfIce's son got under the pressure of System, meanwhile Bizo took his joker lap. But infortunately, the latter tried to exit his joker just between KingJr and System, and that didn't worked well as he touched the front of System's bumper. This meant Bizo then discovered the happiness of the kitty litter... A couple of corners later, System finally passed KingJr. And on the 3rd lap, L.Rydh got the lead back from Nex's, but will that be usefull for the Swede to save the final? Meanwhile on the last lap, KingJr lost 3 more positions, not helped by his joker lap ventures, L.Rydh technically won the final, and at the same time the LFS France's staff decided to convert his stop-go penalty into a 30 second penalty. So it was Nex who won the semi final, in front of System and Cyk. While Nanex was 13 seconds behind L.Rydh, this meant the NFR's boss grabbed the last spot to the final, sending L.Rydh into the small final. Even worst for L.Rydh, Bizo, then KingJr and Tomfuel dropped him to a last place starting position of the small final, as the latter finished 22 seconds behind the Swede!
Small final : Derinus for the honors!
For this small final, we would have a interesting grid as 2 strong mens from the top of the qualifying list were here. Geraxi was on pole position ahead of Bizo while Derinus was indeed following them on the first row. KingJr, LeManchot and Tomfuel were on the 2nd row, while Papator and L.Rydh would share the last row. Derinus took the best start, and grabbed the race lead off Geraxi's hand. KingJr did also good, and was pressuring Geraxi for the second place. Infortunately, at the last sector, Geraxi and KingJr collided! The poor Geraxi ended up in wrong way! While Derinus escaped peacefully in the lead, everyone but Papator then jumped inside the joker lap to avoid the chaos! Even KingJr and Geraxi took it a couple of seconds later to try a recovery. On the 3rd lap, L.Rydh passez Bizo, while Geraxi was intenting a remontada by passing Papator for 6th. And then Derinus won the small final for the honors as the position frozes for the 3 last lap. L.Rydh finished 2nd while Bizo scored the last step on the podium. Tomfuel, LeManchot, Geraxi, Papator and KingJr were completing the results.
Final : KingOfIce to take the win!
For the last final of the year, KingOfIce was on pole position, with at his side, Nex and Donald. On the second row, Proxima, 5th, was taken into a French sandwich, with System (4th) and Cyk (6th) in the role of the bread. Loopingz and Nanex were on the last row. At the light off, King and Nex took a great start. Proxima did it too, and climbed in 3rd, but behind, System did put on a great skill show on the first corner, as Loopingz pushed his bumper on the braking point, sending the FSR car in a 90° drift. System once again showed his recovery skill, and after a 75 meter drift, he entered the corner as if nothing happened, behind Donald. Infortunately, coming at the pond's corner Donald left the path a bit wide by 2 times, loosing some speed, at that moment, System took benefit of these small mistakes to try to pass the Lituanian that infortunately closed the door a bit too much. Their side collided without any visible damage. Proxima decided to be the earliest on the joker lap once again, while Donald followed him with Nanex. But System appeared to have in fact a bent axle after the contact with Donald, making the FSR's boss in difficulty after the hump marking the entry of the 3rd sector. He then decided to take his joker lap and dropped to 7th. And on the 4th lap, Loopingz wanted to show his flying skills and make us a beautiful looping, but that infortunately didn't worked well as he ended up on the roof, forcing him to use a reset, and even drop to last when Nanex passed him later. On the penultimate lap, System, despite his left rear bent axle issue, grabbed the 5th position from Cyk after a great battle where Proxima was also pressuring the FSR's boss. But a lap later, the NFR's driver would also grab Cyk's position. And on the top? KingOfIce won the race without having too much of a pressure from Nex, 2nd. Donald scored the last position on the podium, while System finished 4th in front of Proxima. Cyk, Nanex and Loopingz were completing the results.
Bonus : Proxima for the ultimate win!
And here came the last carnage of the season with a reversed grid from the pre-qualification where everyone was taking part. Papator was on pole position, in front of Tomfuel and LeManchot on the first row. On the second row, Nanex was ahead of Loopingz and KingJr. Geraxi, Cyk and Bizo were on the third row, while Proxima, Nex and Donald were on the fourth row. System, Derinus and L.Rydh were completing the fifth row, and KingOfIce was left all alone on the last row. At the start, LeManchot took the best fly off the grid in front of Tom and Papator. But just after the pack was starting to pass the joker lap's entry, the first drama of this finale happened, as Loopingz and Nanex touched. The NFR's boss infortunately ended up reverse on the path, with every other drivers trying to avoid him, creating more chaos, where the KingOfIces senior and junior, or Bizo, lost a lot of time! Tomfuel was leading the pack into the end of the first lap, while the field was battling all the way up to down. We thought the GUM's boss would end the first lap in the lead, but he took the risked strategy to do his joker lap immediatly. Geraxi, Nex, System, L.Rydh, and Nanex did the same, when at the back, a little mayhem scene happened as Nanex, Derinus, and the Kings Junior and Senior collided before the joker entry. Tomfuel left the joker on 2nd place, but Cyk tried to attack him, as the drivers were heading the second corner at the entry of the sector side by side, they infortunately collided and smacked the rail of the right corner marking the entry to the dirt path of Blackwood. Tomfuel's joker strategy almost paid off with a 2nd or 3rd place coming, but infortunately, it seemed the black cat passed in front of him on the joker path, ruining all his strategy... Meanwhile all the chaos follows, Proxima in front, is digging a beautiful gap, while Nex is already in second place. He's trying to close the gap on Proxima who still need to do his joker, but infortunately, the opposite happens as the CCRT's driver did a small mistake on the 4th lap after the hump, while on the field, the battle doesn't stop and the drivers keep swapping positions. At 2 laps to go, another drama happens in the front pack. As L.Rydh was chasing Nex for the virtual second place, the pair made the same exact mistake at the entry of the third sector, crashing into the red wall just after the hump! Behind them, Loopingz pass by without any scratch. But on the next lap, the TD's driver has to take his joker lap, and he's leaving the position back to Nex and L.Rydh, while System also passes him. And in the front, Proxima is leading with a impressive 11 second gap! Of course, the NFR driver still has to do his joker lap, but such a gap is like sealing the win with some reinforced concrete! And while Proxima enter his joker lap, L.Rydh grabs the second place off Nex's hand! And at the line, Proxima takes a well deserved win, over 5 seconds in front of L.Rydh, while Nex completes the podium. System scores the 4th, in front of Loopingz and Donald. Derinus, on the last corner, is passing Geraxi for the 7th place, meanwhile Tomfuel and Bizo are completing the top 10. KingOfIce, on his side, finish only 11th! Cyk, Papator, LeManchot and KingJr are completing the last races results. Nanex infortunately gave up after 2 laps, as the damages on his Felicia were too important after the lap 1 carnage.
On the 3rd round overall, it's Nex who takes the win despite winning only one race win in semi. But the Belgian driver didnt robbed this win as he finished on the podium of the final and the bonus race! Proxima, thanks to his win in bonus race, scores the second place overall, meanwhile System take the 3rd, in front of Donald, and KingOfIce.
At the cup standings, the surprise emerges! Indeed, KingOfIce, Nex and Donald all 3 scored 579 points! But it's of course the 2024's League Champion who is again crowned, as he was standing on the lead in first. Donald is then classified second, meanwhile the third is for Nex. System is 4th in front of Derinus, ahead of the pair of Belgian NFR's brother : Proxima and Geraxi. It's even a NFR triplet as Nanex follow them in 8th in front of Bizo. Last driver to have completed all the 3 rounds, KingJr is completing the top 10 out of 21 drivers. On the teams sides, GUM Garage seal again another team win, in front of FSR Team and NFR Team. The CCRT sealed the 4th position in front of TD Club who passed Team Winner's thanks by having more than one driver this round. And then Antiaris completes the team raking in last.
And that's how finished the LFS France's 2024 Christmas open. The staff thanks everyone involved in this open, and more especially the drivers on track making the success of this event. Now all the focuses are turned into Saturday's endurance race from the LFSES, as it's going to be in support of the 24hrs For Anna, the charity simracing event supporting the research on child's cancers. We hope we can count on you all on the track, and on another note, if you can't drive, we'll invite you to turn on your stream into the Nanex_TV for the french comments, and on Simbroadcast's stream for the english comments. And we hope for a successfull event!
Semi 1 : There was KingOfIce... and the others.
For this first semi final, it was the pre-qualification's top sitter that was set to start first, KingOfIce. A 100% GUM Garage front row was set for this first semi, as Derinus and Donald were on his side. The NFR's Belgian brothers were following, with Proxima ahead Geraxi, meanwhile the returning Texas Driver's Loopingz was completing the second row. He was followed by his 2 others team mates on the last row : LeManchot ahead of Papator. At the start, King took a good fly off, so Derinus and Donald did. Ahead the first corner, the Lituanian made sure he wouldn't make a GUM strike and stayed calm behing. But Proxima, and then Geraxi took benefit of that to steal him position. A first drama of the evening happened a couple of corners later, as KingOfIce was leading the pack into the dirt, coming to the long right corner that's sitting on the side of Blackwood's famous pond, Derinus had more speed than his team mate and tried to place his car on the side of his team mate's. Infortunately, that didn't worked, and the doors kissed a bit too harsh, sending Derinus to the rail and down the pack. A moment later, Proxima was the first driver to jump in the joker lap, followed by Donald and... Derinus. Infortunately for Proxima, as he missed his joker corner, he dropped a couple of seconds with his speed loss on the rail. As the second lap started, Papator flipped his car to the roof loosing his good start benefit and forcing him to use a reset followed by a penalty. Geraxi then took his joker lap, going from 2nd to 5th. On the 3rd lap, meanwhile Donald was fighting with Proxima for the 3rd place, it was time for loopings to take his joker and drop back to 5th. With Donald passing Proxima, this meant that the Lituanian would climb 2nd while Proxima stayed 3rd in the end. And in the front? Well, KingOfIce was comfortably sitting in his throne with a good pillow of a gap in front of Daf. He wasn't even insisting : his best lap time was not even the fastest. Meanwhile at this time, Loopingz clinched Geraxi's 4th, and Derinus tried to save his semi by getting LeManchot's 6th place. Then KingOfIce won with +3.25 seconds on Donald, while Proxima stayed on the last step. His last sector pass on Geraxi meant that Loopingz were qualified to the final for his return, getting the last spot into the final.
Semi 2 : Nex to take a surprise win!
On this second semi final, we would see the other fastest qualifier with Team Winners' L.Rydh on pole position. System and Nex were on his side on the first row. Meanwhile Bizo and newcomer Cyk were acompanied by KingJr on the second row. Nanex and Tomfuel, who also was returning after a forced racing break, were on the last row. And the light didn't got time to pass to green that we had the first drama of this semi! Indeed, L.Rydh slipped his clutch and left his starting spot... The Blackwood's marshalls immediatly set him a stop-go penalty for false start! But then the Swede still took a normal race start, but nearly missed the first corner going wide! Nex was trying to pass him on the inside, and got the unexpected help of System who bumped the rear of his Felicia. Taking profit of this moment, Bizo stole his team mate position to climb 3rd. Tomfuel then collided with KingJr after the pond's corner, their doors didn't wanted to hug, and infortunately Tom ended up on the rail, just a few meter further than where Derinus crashed earlier on semi 1. At the end of the first lap, L.Rydh was the first one to jump on the joker lap, followed by System, Cyk, Nanex and Tomfuel. KingJr was temporarily in third, but on the second lap, L.Rydh got the position from him. And KingOfIce's son got under the pressure of System, meanwhile Bizo took his joker lap. But infortunately, the latter tried to exit his joker just between KingJr and System, and that didn't worked well as he touched the front of System's bumper. This meant Bizo then discovered the happiness of the kitty litter... A couple of corners later, System finally passed KingJr. And on the 3rd lap, L.Rydh got the lead back from Nex's, but will that be usefull for the Swede to save the final? Meanwhile on the last lap, KingJr lost 3 more positions, not helped by his joker lap ventures, L.Rydh technically won the final, and at the same time the LFS France's staff decided to convert his stop-go penalty into a 30 second penalty. So it was Nex who won the semi final, in front of System and Cyk. While Nanex was 13 seconds behind L.Rydh, this meant the NFR's boss grabbed the last spot to the final, sending L.Rydh into the small final. Even worst for L.Rydh, Bizo, then KingJr and Tomfuel dropped him to a last place starting position of the small final, as the latter finished 22 seconds behind the Swede!
Small final : Derinus for the honors!
For this small final, we would have a interesting grid as 2 strong mens from the top of the qualifying list were here. Geraxi was on pole position ahead of Bizo while Derinus was indeed following them on the first row. KingJr, LeManchot and Tomfuel were on the 2nd row, while Papator and L.Rydh would share the last row. Derinus took the best start, and grabbed the race lead off Geraxi's hand. KingJr did also good, and was pressuring Geraxi for the second place. Infortunately, at the last sector, Geraxi and KingJr collided! The poor Geraxi ended up in wrong way! While Derinus escaped peacefully in the lead, everyone but Papator then jumped inside the joker lap to avoid the chaos! Even KingJr and Geraxi took it a couple of seconds later to try a recovery. On the 3rd lap, L.Rydh passez Bizo, while Geraxi was intenting a remontada by passing Papator for 6th. And then Derinus won the small final for the honors as the position frozes for the 3 last lap. L.Rydh finished 2nd while Bizo scored the last step on the podium. Tomfuel, LeManchot, Geraxi, Papator and KingJr were completing the results.
Final : KingOfIce to take the win!
For the last final of the year, KingOfIce was on pole position, with at his side, Nex and Donald. On the second row, Proxima, 5th, was taken into a French sandwich, with System (4th) and Cyk (6th) in the role of the bread. Loopingz and Nanex were on the last row. At the light off, King and Nex took a great start. Proxima did it too, and climbed in 3rd, but behind, System did put on a great skill show on the first corner, as Loopingz pushed his bumper on the braking point, sending the FSR car in a 90° drift. System once again showed his recovery skill, and after a 75 meter drift, he entered the corner as if nothing happened, behind Donald. Infortunately, coming at the pond's corner Donald left the path a bit wide by 2 times, loosing some speed, at that moment, System took benefit of these small mistakes to try to pass the Lituanian that infortunately closed the door a bit too much. Their side collided without any visible damage. Proxima decided to be the earliest on the joker lap once again, while Donald followed him with Nanex. But System appeared to have in fact a bent axle after the contact with Donald, making the FSR's boss in difficulty after the hump marking the entry of the 3rd sector. He then decided to take his joker lap and dropped to 7th. And on the 4th lap, Loopingz wanted to show his flying skills and make us a beautiful looping, but that infortunately didn't worked well as he ended up on the roof, forcing him to use a reset, and even drop to last when Nanex passed him later. On the penultimate lap, System, despite his left rear bent axle issue, grabbed the 5th position from Cyk after a great battle where Proxima was also pressuring the FSR's boss. But a lap later, the NFR's driver would also grab Cyk's position. And on the top? KingOfIce won the race without having too much of a pressure from Nex, 2nd. Donald scored the last position on the podium, while System finished 4th in front of Proxima. Cyk, Nanex and Loopingz were completing the results.
Bonus : Proxima for the ultimate win!
And here came the last carnage of the season with a reversed grid from the pre-qualification where everyone was taking part. Papator was on pole position, in front of Tomfuel and LeManchot on the first row. On the second row, Nanex was ahead of Loopingz and KingJr. Geraxi, Cyk and Bizo were on the third row, while Proxima, Nex and Donald were on the fourth row. System, Derinus and L.Rydh were completing the fifth row, and KingOfIce was left all alone on the last row. At the start, LeManchot took the best fly off the grid in front of Tom and Papator. But just after the pack was starting to pass the joker lap's entry, the first drama of this finale happened, as Loopingz and Nanex touched. The NFR's boss infortunately ended up reverse on the path, with every other drivers trying to avoid him, creating more chaos, where the KingOfIces senior and junior, or Bizo, lost a lot of time! Tomfuel was leading the pack into the end of the first lap, while the field was battling all the way up to down. We thought the GUM's boss would end the first lap in the lead, but he took the risked strategy to do his joker lap immediatly. Geraxi, Nex, System, L.Rydh, and Nanex did the same, when at the back, a little mayhem scene happened as Nanex, Derinus, and the Kings Junior and Senior collided before the joker entry. Tomfuel left the joker on 2nd place, but Cyk tried to attack him, as the drivers were heading the second corner at the entry of the sector side by side, they infortunately collided and smacked the rail of the right corner marking the entry to the dirt path of Blackwood. Tomfuel's joker strategy almost paid off with a 2nd or 3rd place coming, but infortunately, it seemed the black cat passed in front of him on the joker path, ruining all his strategy... Meanwhile all the chaos follows, Proxima in front, is digging a beautiful gap, while Nex is already in second place. He's trying to close the gap on Proxima who still need to do his joker, but infortunately, the opposite happens as the CCRT's driver did a small mistake on the 4th lap after the hump, while on the field, the battle doesn't stop and the drivers keep swapping positions. At 2 laps to go, another drama happens in the front pack. As L.Rydh was chasing Nex for the virtual second place, the pair made the same exact mistake at the entry of the third sector, crashing into the red wall just after the hump! Behind them, Loopingz pass by without any scratch. But on the next lap, the TD's driver has to take his joker lap, and he's leaving the position back to Nex and L.Rydh, while System also passes him. And in the front, Proxima is leading with a impressive 11 second gap! Of course, the NFR driver still has to do his joker lap, but such a gap is like sealing the win with some reinforced concrete! And while Proxima enter his joker lap, L.Rydh grabs the second place off Nex's hand! And at the line, Proxima takes a well deserved win, over 5 seconds in front of L.Rydh, while Nex completes the podium. System scores the 4th, in front of Loopingz and Donald. Derinus, on the last corner, is passing Geraxi for the 7th place, meanwhile Tomfuel and Bizo are completing the top 10. KingOfIce, on his side, finish only 11th! Cyk, Papator, LeManchot and KingJr are completing the last races results. Nanex infortunately gave up after 2 laps, as the damages on his Felicia were too important after the lap 1 carnage.
On the 3rd round overall, it's Nex who takes the win despite winning only one race win in semi. But the Belgian driver didnt robbed this win as he finished on the podium of the final and the bonus race! Proxima, thanks to his win in bonus race, scores the second place overall, meanwhile System take the 3rd, in front of Donald, and KingOfIce.
At the cup standings, the surprise emerges! Indeed, KingOfIce, Nex and Donald all 3 scored 579 points! But it's of course the 2024's League Champion who is again crowned, as he was standing on the lead in first. Donald is then classified second, meanwhile the third is for Nex. System is 4th in front of Derinus, ahead of the pair of Belgian NFR's brother : Proxima and Geraxi. It's even a NFR triplet as Nanex follow them in 8th in front of Bizo. Last driver to have completed all the 3 rounds, KingJr is completing the top 10 out of 21 drivers. On the teams sides, GUM Garage seal again another team win, in front of FSR Team and NFR Team. The CCRT sealed the 4th position in front of TD Club who passed Team Winner's thanks by having more than one driver this round. And then Antiaris completes the team raking in last.
And that's how finished the LFS France's 2024 Christmas open. The staff thanks everyone involved in this open, and more especially the drivers on track making the success of this event. Now all the focuses are turned into Saturday's endurance race from the LFSES, as it's going to be in support of the 24hrs For Anna, the charity simracing event supporting the research on child's cancers. We hope we can count on you all on the track, and on another note, if you can't drive, we'll invite you to turn on your stream into the Nanex_TV for the french comments, and on Simbroadcast's stream for the english comments. And we hope for a successfull event!