The eleventh and penultimate round of this years’ OWRL F1 season at the Westhill International circuit was at first a battle against the loss of concentration. Many fast corners can lead too many mistakes by the drivers, led by Adam Wisniewski and Quentin Benoît, who can’t just treat their car with care to score just a few points; the standings are too close for that in the final stages of the season.
The qualifying showed a few other drivers, who wanted to finish the race on the highest possible position. The best time of the day was held by Jarl Teien in the first qualifying, being the only driver with a time under 1:10.00. After both Ian and Matt Maslen have been eliminated after Q1, Teien was able to achieve his first pole-position of the year, followed by both Sonicrealms Racing drivers Michael Booth and Peter Hopkins. Then on positions four and five were Benoît and Wisniewski. In that order all drivers reached the first corner.
In turn two Benoît slid to the outside, Wisniewski immediately took the inside line and was now in fourth. Behind them Michael Raymond and Maciej Wójcik touched and ended up in the gravel, but both were able to recover as eleventh and twelfth. Between them and the top runners both Maslen F1 drivers were chasing both 1stBFA drivers Peter Corbalan, who improved his position from ninth to sixth at the start, and Erwin Caffé. Then in the second lap, Sonicrealms Racing noticed that this race wasn’t running in favour of them. First Peter Hopkins touched the grass while turning into turn two and ended up in the wall, a few kilometres later Michael Booth lost his car in the fast chicane and slid straight into the tyre stack. Booth suffered just light damage and was back in fourth a few laps later, Hopkins had to make a pit stop with a heavily damaged car and then retired.
When Booth overtook Caffé, the latter had a very frightening moment when his rear overtook him at 315km/h in turn one. He was also bouncing back from the tyres onto track, but luckily he didn’t take any other cars with him. Nonetheless his race was over but the end of this series of mistakes didn’t stop here. Next one was the current leader Jarl Teien, whose car was thrown out of balance after it has been hit by a tire stack which was thrown on the track by Ian Maslen, who also went straight on into the barrier. Teien fell back to third and was then heading to his first early pit stop, what explains his fastest time in Q2. At the same time Benoît was overtaking Wisniewski and therefore leading the race. In that order both were doing their first pit stop, overall both were, except for a few situations, only separated by less than two seconds the whole race.
After the first pit stops the order was changed behind the leaders. Behind Benoît and Wisniewski suddenly Raymond showed up on third, who pitted very late and also he did benefit of an error by Booth. Behind both was Matt Maslen on fifth, who started from eleventh and even served a drive-through penalty in the first lap for an incident at last race. Disappointing was the race for both Its All About Racing driver: Martin Wójcik had to retire after a driver error just like Adrian Bakaj, who got stuck in the gravel trap next to the chicane. That result didn’t improve the team’ chances for overall third in the Team Championship.
Benoît led the race until the middle of the race in front of Wisniewski, who didn’t want to wait until the next pit stops and overtook Benoît at turn one to be the new leader. Shortly before the second pit stops both were coming close to Booth, who let Wisniewski pass after a rather long period of time and then Benoît was coming closer. At least until the chicane because Benoît lost the control over his car for a short amount of time and was only able to prevent himself from spinning and ending up in the barrier with a hard braking maneuver. That cost him ten seconds on Wisniewski, who was now able to change his tyres at the pit stop. Wisniewski was running on R3 tyres in opposite to Benoît on R4 tyres. That way Benoît closed the gap after both stops to just a few seconds.
On third position Raymond was having a quiet race and got under pressure just a short time by Booth, but the latter had to pit another time and also made a driver error that cost him additional seconds. That way Matt Maslen was able to threaten him, but he had his thoughts elsewhere for a second as well, so the order Booth in front of Maslen remained for the next laps. While coming to the finish Benoît could close the gap to Wisniewski, but he was also suffering from his heavy braking in the chicane where his suspension got some damage. That is why in the final lap his suspension collapsed at the rear and he was forced to limp over the finish line, giving Wisniewski an easy final lap to win in front of his biggest contender, followed by Michael Raymond and Michael Booth on third and fourth. Position five went to Jarl Teien, who hunted Matt Maslen until the very end and broke his defense shortly before the chequered flag. The final points went to Peter Corbalan on seventh and Ian Maslen on eighth, who got stuck in a gravel trap and rescued himself within a few laps but went out of fuel on the last mile. Thanks to other drivers he was able to roll over the finish line.
In the final race neither Championship is decided. Wisniewski is leading the drivers’ championship with twelve points and also has clearly more wins than Benoît, who’ll need more than just a tie in points. The third position is also yet to be decided, because Wójcik scored zero points and is now just nine points in front of Raymond. At the Teams’ Championship nothing is decided as well, although Redline Racing is leading by twenty-six points in front of Spdo Racing. Forty-three points are the maximum per event, so Spdo Racing has to expect something to happen. Behind them Sonicrealms Racing is on third position with eighteen points in front of Its All About Speed.
The last race traditionally will take place in the land of the rising sun on the GP course of the Kyoto Ring. Fast and slow corners together with short and long straights are something that will touch the heart of every race driver. Additionally the fast chicane where the cars leave the oval will be replaced with a slower corner to erase a random factor of the track.
Against the originally schedule the final race will be held on Saturday, 13 November at 18:30 UTC – 19:30 CET, to give everyone the best possible preparation for the race. If a driver wants to take part at this race, please contact the team members to fill a seat for them at this race. The race will be broadcasted by MultiBC at 18:30 UTC.
Q1 | Q2 | Race
Standings (Clear your cache if necessary)
Replay Race (members only)
Full screenshots at owrl.de
The qualifying showed a few other drivers, who wanted to finish the race on the highest possible position. The best time of the day was held by Jarl Teien in the first qualifying, being the only driver with a time under 1:10.00. After both Ian and Matt Maslen have been eliminated after Q1, Teien was able to achieve his first pole-position of the year, followed by both Sonicrealms Racing drivers Michael Booth and Peter Hopkins. Then on positions four and five were Benoît and Wisniewski. In that order all drivers reached the first corner.
In turn two Benoît slid to the outside, Wisniewski immediately took the inside line and was now in fourth. Behind them Michael Raymond and Maciej Wójcik touched and ended up in the gravel, but both were able to recover as eleventh and twelfth. Between them and the top runners both Maslen F1 drivers were chasing both 1stBFA drivers Peter Corbalan, who improved his position from ninth to sixth at the start, and Erwin Caffé. Then in the second lap, Sonicrealms Racing noticed that this race wasn’t running in favour of them. First Peter Hopkins touched the grass while turning into turn two and ended up in the wall, a few kilometres later Michael Booth lost his car in the fast chicane and slid straight into the tyre stack. Booth suffered just light damage and was back in fourth a few laps later, Hopkins had to make a pit stop with a heavily damaged car and then retired.
When Booth overtook Caffé, the latter had a very frightening moment when his rear overtook him at 315km/h in turn one. He was also bouncing back from the tyres onto track, but luckily he didn’t take any other cars with him. Nonetheless his race was over but the end of this series of mistakes didn’t stop here. Next one was the current leader Jarl Teien, whose car was thrown out of balance after it has been hit by a tire stack which was thrown on the track by Ian Maslen, who also went straight on into the barrier. Teien fell back to third and was then heading to his first early pit stop, what explains his fastest time in Q2. At the same time Benoît was overtaking Wisniewski and therefore leading the race. In that order both were doing their first pit stop, overall both were, except for a few situations, only separated by less than two seconds the whole race.
After the first pit stops the order was changed behind the leaders. Behind Benoît and Wisniewski suddenly Raymond showed up on third, who pitted very late and also he did benefit of an error by Booth. Behind both was Matt Maslen on fifth, who started from eleventh and even served a drive-through penalty in the first lap for an incident at last race. Disappointing was the race for both Its All About Racing driver: Martin Wójcik had to retire after a driver error just like Adrian Bakaj, who got stuck in the gravel trap next to the chicane. That result didn’t improve the team’ chances for overall third in the Team Championship.
Benoît led the race until the middle of the race in front of Wisniewski, who didn’t want to wait until the next pit stops and overtook Benoît at turn one to be the new leader. Shortly before the second pit stops both were coming close to Booth, who let Wisniewski pass after a rather long period of time and then Benoît was coming closer. At least until the chicane because Benoît lost the control over his car for a short amount of time and was only able to prevent himself from spinning and ending up in the barrier with a hard braking maneuver. That cost him ten seconds on Wisniewski, who was now able to change his tyres at the pit stop. Wisniewski was running on R3 tyres in opposite to Benoît on R4 tyres. That way Benoît closed the gap after both stops to just a few seconds.
On third position Raymond was having a quiet race and got under pressure just a short time by Booth, but the latter had to pit another time and also made a driver error that cost him additional seconds. That way Matt Maslen was able to threaten him, but he had his thoughts elsewhere for a second as well, so the order Booth in front of Maslen remained for the next laps. While coming to the finish Benoît could close the gap to Wisniewski, but he was also suffering from his heavy braking in the chicane where his suspension got some damage. That is why in the final lap his suspension collapsed at the rear and he was forced to limp over the finish line, giving Wisniewski an easy final lap to win in front of his biggest contender, followed by Michael Raymond and Michael Booth on third and fourth. Position five went to Jarl Teien, who hunted Matt Maslen until the very end and broke his defense shortly before the chequered flag. The final points went to Peter Corbalan on seventh and Ian Maslen on eighth, who got stuck in a gravel trap and rescued himself within a few laps but went out of fuel on the last mile. Thanks to other drivers he was able to roll over the finish line.
In the final race neither Championship is decided. Wisniewski is leading the drivers’ championship with twelve points and also has clearly more wins than Benoît, who’ll need more than just a tie in points. The third position is also yet to be decided, because Wójcik scored zero points and is now just nine points in front of Raymond. At the Teams’ Championship nothing is decided as well, although Redline Racing is leading by twenty-six points in front of Spdo Racing. Forty-three points are the maximum per event, so Spdo Racing has to expect something to happen. Behind them Sonicrealms Racing is on third position with eighteen points in front of Its All About Speed.
The last race traditionally will take place in the land of the rising sun on the GP course of the Kyoto Ring. Fast and slow corners together with short and long straights are something that will touch the heart of every race driver. Additionally the fast chicane where the cars leave the oval will be replaced with a slower corner to erase a random factor of the track.
Against the originally schedule the final race will be held on Saturday, 13 November at 18:30 UTC – 19:30 CET, to give everyone the best possible preparation for the race. If a driver wants to take part at this race, please contact the team members to fill a seat for them at this race. The race will be broadcasted by MultiBC at 18:30 UTC.
Q1 | Q2 | Race
Standings (Clear your cache if necessary)
Replay Race (members only)
Full screenshots at owrl.de