Yesterday evening at South City was held the 4th round of the LFSES. It was the SO4R route that have been chosen less than a month ago, after that this round first saw a open track route planned to be used, driving by the famous South City "hidden part". Infortunately, the chaining of 2 90° corners at T1 and T2 were too aggressive for the LMP2 and its limited steering angle. The staff decided to switch to a classic route, the Long Reverse one. Infortunately, the grid was pretty emptied in comparison of the last round in January which was for the charity event "24h For Anna". Bad timing with the various races, but also the holidays, as they were ending up in France? Still we had 12 brave drivers on the field yesterday evening, splitting the 2 categories into a perfect 50-50 as there was 6 LMP2 and 6 GT3. Of course, Dod1slaw showed again his hotlapping skills during the quali week to grab again the pole position, in front of no one else than JSK. S1dus' uNite was 3rd, in front of System, Valenzise and the late newcomer Owen. Meanwhile in GT3, Mazdaratie grabbed the pole in front of S.Martin and Cyk. Proxima and both Péli!can's Neron and Pat De Lap were following the complete the grid.
The Prototype guys all took a careful start at the green flag, maybe too careful? Because indeed at the first corner, they all had somewhat a slow speed, creating confusion on the back, as System, despite a very early braking, and a excess of focus on his mirrors, managed to taste uNite's rear wing. Both drivers did a synchronized spin, in which Valenzise took benefit to climb 3rd. It only took uNite and System a couple of laps before closing the gap on Valenzise, who was very fair play, as he knew he couldn't fight by the speed and let his rivals pass without too much efforts. On the front of the race, Dod1slaw managed to create a gap, but we could indeed count on a fast JSK, that after emptying his tank started to show a interesting pace. On lap 21, the first big drama of the evening happened, as uNite all alone, ended up in the barriers after what it looked like a technical issue. In this story, he lost a couple of time, and also of laps, as he ended almost 2 laps behind the leaders, and in the middle on the GT3s. A couple of laps later, as Dod1slaw entered on the 30th lap, JSK as he was closing more and more the gap on the leader, took his first pit stop of the race. The MRc's driver indeed intented a different strategy to beat his Russian rival. But he would later get a unexpected help coming from a incident, as Dod1slaw entered the pitlane to make his first pitstop, Team Pél!can's Pat De Lap infortunately didn't saw the leader coming in when his mechanics released him from his pitbox, and hit Dod1slaw in the back. The new recruit of Team Winners has been sent in a 180° spin and found himself on the wrong way in the pitlane. His mechanics still decided to make his pitstop on that unexpected position, and then he had to manage a way of getting back to the right way in a serie of multiple manoeuvers. It was just the piece of holy bread JSK needed to try something, as the Slovakian took the lead of the race. But Dod1slaw wasn't admitting himself beaten, and rolled up his sleeves trying to get back to the lead. Behind them, we had a interesting strategy battle going on between System and uNite for the 3rd place. But of course, the Finnish driver, who used to be System's team mate 15 years ago in Tiger Express Motorsport, spend the second hour of the race having a solid pace who was technically a win capable pace. System couldn't do much and didnt really fighted to keep the 3rd position that uNite climbed back, as the S1dus driver also took the fastest lap. At the top, Dod1slaw recovered his top position after JSK's second pit stop, and didn't left it despite having to take a second stop himself too. Dod1slaw then took his second consecutive win, in front of JSK and uNite. System, Valenzise would follow up, meanwhile Owen had to withdrawn.
In GT3, the start was kinda more peaceful, as nothing but some passes attempt happened, and the position were all frozen. Mazdaratie immediatly started to gap his opponents, meanwhile Cyk had some envy of taking that second place from S.Martin, without success. But after 25 laps for the GT3s, things started to spice up, as Proxima, 4th, closed the gap on Cyk. Then started a amazing battle between these 2 for the last step on the podium. After a hour and 7 minutes of race, the battle took a provisional end as Proxima marked his first pit stop, offering Cyk some extra laps in the peace and maybe create a gap to avoid any chance of Proxima doing the undercut. And 3 laps later, it was Cyk's turn to mark his pit stop, and Yes We Kan's driver left the pitlane still in 3rd position, but with Proxima being again close of him, as if nothing happened. The pair ended up again doing their fierce battle for the eyes pleasure of the streaming's viewer on DLV's Twitch channel, as if they were watching a chase coming straight from a episode of "Tom & Jerry" 's cartoons. Moreover, the pair had to deal their battle with the LMP2's blue flags, to add more spices on the recipe! And in front of that? Well, Mazdaratie and S.Martin were both in their respective no-mans lands, without a lot of stuffs to worry except the blue flags. On the back, Neron infortunately faced some technical issues, who left him a couple of laps in the garage. The battle for the 3rd place never ceased to calm down, as Cyk and Proxima were doing a couple of pass-pass moves with the blue flags moments. But infortunately, the battle had to come with a end, as in lap 66, Cyk was hit with a drive through penalty, as he infortunately had a incident with Valenzise's LMP2, and couldn't then defend anymore his 3rd position. At the end of the 2 hours, Mazdaratie took his second consecutive win in GT3, a dominant one without any objection. S.Martin follows him up on the second spot, meanwhile NFR's Proxima is standing on the last step of the podium. Cyk finished 4th, in front of Pat De Lap, meanwhile the later's team mate, Neron, who finally has been able to come back for 11 more laps, finished 6th.
As we passed the half season, the next round that will be the 5th round, will be held in April 12th, at Fern Bay, using a the full capacity of the track with a open track custom layout. We all hope to see you there!
The Prototype guys all took a careful start at the green flag, maybe too careful? Because indeed at the first corner, they all had somewhat a slow speed, creating confusion on the back, as System, despite a very early braking, and a excess of focus on his mirrors, managed to taste uNite's rear wing. Both drivers did a synchronized spin, in which Valenzise took benefit to climb 3rd. It only took uNite and System a couple of laps before closing the gap on Valenzise, who was very fair play, as he knew he couldn't fight by the speed and let his rivals pass without too much efforts. On the front of the race, Dod1slaw managed to create a gap, but we could indeed count on a fast JSK, that after emptying his tank started to show a interesting pace. On lap 21, the first big drama of the evening happened, as uNite all alone, ended up in the barriers after what it looked like a technical issue. In this story, he lost a couple of time, and also of laps, as he ended almost 2 laps behind the leaders, and in the middle on the GT3s. A couple of laps later, as Dod1slaw entered on the 30th lap, JSK as he was closing more and more the gap on the leader, took his first pit stop of the race. The MRc's driver indeed intented a different strategy to beat his Russian rival. But he would later get a unexpected help coming from a incident, as Dod1slaw entered the pitlane to make his first pitstop, Team Pél!can's Pat De Lap infortunately didn't saw the leader coming in when his mechanics released him from his pitbox, and hit Dod1slaw in the back. The new recruit of Team Winners has been sent in a 180° spin and found himself on the wrong way in the pitlane. His mechanics still decided to make his pitstop on that unexpected position, and then he had to manage a way of getting back to the right way in a serie of multiple manoeuvers. It was just the piece of holy bread JSK needed to try something, as the Slovakian took the lead of the race. But Dod1slaw wasn't admitting himself beaten, and rolled up his sleeves trying to get back to the lead. Behind them, we had a interesting strategy battle going on between System and uNite for the 3rd place. But of course, the Finnish driver, who used to be System's team mate 15 years ago in Tiger Express Motorsport, spend the second hour of the race having a solid pace who was technically a win capable pace. System couldn't do much and didnt really fighted to keep the 3rd position that uNite climbed back, as the S1dus driver also took the fastest lap. At the top, Dod1slaw recovered his top position after JSK's second pit stop, and didn't left it despite having to take a second stop himself too. Dod1slaw then took his second consecutive win, in front of JSK and uNite. System, Valenzise would follow up, meanwhile Owen had to withdrawn.
In GT3, the start was kinda more peaceful, as nothing but some passes attempt happened, and the position were all frozen. Mazdaratie immediatly started to gap his opponents, meanwhile Cyk had some envy of taking that second place from S.Martin, without success. But after 25 laps for the GT3s, things started to spice up, as Proxima, 4th, closed the gap on Cyk. Then started a amazing battle between these 2 for the last step on the podium. After a hour and 7 minutes of race, the battle took a provisional end as Proxima marked his first pit stop, offering Cyk some extra laps in the peace and maybe create a gap to avoid any chance of Proxima doing the undercut. And 3 laps later, it was Cyk's turn to mark his pit stop, and Yes We Kan's driver left the pitlane still in 3rd position, but with Proxima being again close of him, as if nothing happened. The pair ended up again doing their fierce battle for the eyes pleasure of the streaming's viewer on DLV's Twitch channel, as if they were watching a chase coming straight from a episode of "Tom & Jerry" 's cartoons. Moreover, the pair had to deal their battle with the LMP2's blue flags, to add more spices on the recipe! And in front of that? Well, Mazdaratie and S.Martin were both in their respective no-mans lands, without a lot of stuffs to worry except the blue flags. On the back, Neron infortunately faced some technical issues, who left him a couple of laps in the garage. The battle for the 3rd place never ceased to calm down, as Cyk and Proxima were doing a couple of pass-pass moves with the blue flags moments. But infortunately, the battle had to come with a end, as in lap 66, Cyk was hit with a drive through penalty, as he infortunately had a incident with Valenzise's LMP2, and couldn't then defend anymore his 3rd position. At the end of the 2 hours, Mazdaratie took his second consecutive win in GT3, a dominant one without any objection. S.Martin follows him up on the second spot, meanwhile NFR's Proxima is standing on the last step of the podium. Cyk finished 4th, in front of Pat De Lap, meanwhile the later's team mate, Neron, who finally has been able to come back for 11 more laps, finished 6th.
As we passed the half season, the next round that will be the 5th round, will be held in April 12th, at Fern Bay, using a the full capacity of the track with a open track custom layout. We all hope to see you there!