Ramon Blauwhoff of spdoRacing Claims IndyCar 250 Glory
-February 8, 2012 by Cameron Corns
The IndyCar 250 was taken home by Ramon Blauwhoff of the Netherlands and spdoRacing. His number 24 car stormed through the field after being involved in a crash on the 43rd lap of the race and never fell out of the top five again. At the line he defeated the second place vehicle driven by Remco Majoor of Scuderia GP who also hails from the Netherlands by 0.04 seconds. 0.59 seconds behind the winner in third place came Sebastian Rodriguez for Brothers on Track who hails from Uruguay, and in fourth place came Edgars Pulins for PlayerZone who hails from Latvia. Miroslaw Braksator of Poland rounded out the top five for ZION Team.
The starting grid included 17 racers hailing from 10 different nations and was headed up by the number 89 of Irina Billianov from Poland with a lap time of 36.85 seconds (180.928 mph or 291.175 km/h).
The race took the green flag following the 5 pace laps in a double file formation and cars immediately fanned out three, four and sometimes even five abreast in the opening seconds of the race as drivers fought for position. A few minor incidents occurred towards the back of the pack which were not deemed severe enough to warrant a full course yellow, and the race remained under green flag for the first six scored laps of the race until the number 31 of Yuri Laszlo became stranded on the apron in turn number one following damages sustained on the first lap of the race.
The field was lead to the green flag by Irina Billianov who remained at the point and immediately at the green there were some cars around towards the back of the pack, but once again the track remained clear so the green flag remained out. Is was in this the second run of the day that drivers were able to settle into a grove and settle down as the second green flag run lasted from lap number 12 until lap 38.
The second yellow flag of the day came as a result of contact between the then second place vehicle of Irina Billianov and the number 13 of Scuderia GP driven by Damian Eikelkamp of the Netherlands who was at the time scored a lap down in 9th position. Damian Eikelkamp was denied the free pass on the second yellow flag of the day due to causing the caution flag. In addition, following the race he was penalized a lap for causing contact with a competitor laps ahead without possibility of advancing his position.
The number 88 driven by Filip Dabrowski of Poland lead the field back to the green flag on lap number 46, but the yellow flag was quickly thrown once again following a seven car pile up between turns number 1 and 2 which involved the number 99 (Kasper Nielsen), number 45 (Gerrit Conradie), number 11 (Bozhidar Velinov), number 21 (Gage Reisinger), number 24 (Ramon Blauwhoff), number 50 (Teppo Rinne) and number 69 (Rasmus Larsen). All would continue following the incident with the exception of the number 50 of Teppo Rinne who became the 4th driver to retire from the event and officially recorded a 14th place finish.
Filip Dabrowski once again lead the field to the green flag on the race's third restart on lap number 50 of 135. He would fall a few positions on the restart handing the lead to the number 93 of and he retired from the event on lap number 53 following contact with the number 12 vehicle driven by Mark Berends of the Netherlands.
This handed the lead over to the number 93 of Edgars Pulins who would soon be joined by the number 24 of Ramon Blauwhoff and the number 14 of Remco Majoor in the lead pack. Through the run the number 14 and 24 were able to create separation between themselves and the number 93, but the rest of the field still was not able to catch up to the three leaders.
The race would remain under the green flag for 69 laps following the third yellow flag and it wasn't until lap number 129 of 135 that the yellow flag flew once more for the number 21 car driven by Gage Reisinger of the United States which had become disabled on the front stretch after getting loose at the apex of turn number three and smacking the wall hard with the left side of the car with the leaders only a few seconds behind. The incident would cause the Gage to become the 9th driver to retire from the event. He would officially finish in the 8th position ahead of the number 12 of Mark Berends who finished the event 12 laps down following penalties.
The number 14 of Remco Majoor lead the field down to the fourth and final restart of the Second Annual IndyCar 250 with three laps to go. Blauwhoff was beaten on the restart by Majoor, but was able to close the gap thanks to the gap despite Remco attempting to prevent it. Before turn number three Ramon was able to take the lead. Blauwhoff made no attempt to prevent Remco from retaking the lead on the front stretch and leading the 133rd lap.
The leaders exchanged positions twice on the back stretch and on the tri-oval the number 24 spdoRacing entry refused to take the lead from the number 14 Scuderia GP car allowing the rest of the pack lead by Edgar Pulins in the 93 and the 07 of Sebastian Rodriguez to close the gap to under a second on the final lap.
Remco Majoor hugged the white line between turns number one and two in order to try and keep the number 24 from slip streaming him. Blauwhoff continued to follow the suggested racing line and closed on Remco entering turn number two and continued to down the short chute between turns two and three as Remco remained on the bottom of the race track all the way through the third turn.
Blauwhoff dropped his car down to the bottom of the race track after the rear tires temporarily lost grip past the apex in turn number three. Once Ramon got the vehicle pointed in the right direction once again he found himself on the bottom of the race track allowing him to draft Majoor through the final part of the turn. After dipping down and drafting the back of Majoor's car briefly he quickly draw his number 24 entry to his competitor's right side and allowed his accumulated speed to lead him to victory by four one hundredths of a second.
After the race a confident Ramon Blauwhoff had this to say: "Oval racing is something special, whatever your position, [you] always have a chance to come back and fight for the win. This time though I was in the top 5 the whole race and without taking risks I was confident I could fight for the win in the end. Edgars Pulins was the quickest guy out there, only by working together with Remco Majoor we were able to just stay in front of him driving alone! Then he had some problems with backmarkers and now it was between Remco and me."
So how was the end of the race?
"In the last laps Remco gave me a tough time but kept it fair, just the way I like it. The last lap was intense, I actually forgot to breath!"
When asked about the race second place finisher Remco Majoor said, "The race itself was quite messy at the start. It was a bit unlucky that I was starting second last. I was involved in the 1st accident and got 1 lap behind of the leader. Luckily there were 2 full course yellow after each other. I got my lap back in the first one and with the second restart I drove from the end to the front in 1 lap. And of course there was the closest finish ever. 1.5 hour race and 0.04 seconds behind."
Third place finisher Edgars Pulins, who was arguably the quickest car on the track said, "...I started from eighth place at the beginning. I tried to proceed with caution. Race among the safety car and after they got a good drafts with #93 #24 #14.We were fast and caught the # 12 car which failed to meet the blue flag of the crash and me... I lost draft, then half a race driv[ing] alone. I watched that gasoline may not be enough to end. I thought long and decided not to go in boxes and wait for the fourth position to draft and save fuel. In last lap I arrived in a 0.8% fuel but it was too little and came to an end fuel.
Realistic NASCAR would like to thank Jonathon Provost for providing the Live-stream of the Event New Dimensions Racing for the Server, and all of those who came out to make this event possible. We hope to see you back out on the track for the Kyoto 400 this February.
Realistic NASCAR Officials for this Race:
Sobis: Pace Car
Kid222: Push Car & Race Review
Speedy J: Second in Command
Cornys: Race Control
Race laps chart
Official Results: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19870068/IndyCar%20250%20Results.pdf
Post Race Discussion: http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=78179
Live-Stream Replay: http://www.livestream.com/realisticnascar/video?clipId=pla_b45b69a0-8395-4782-a5d6-fbeb636cd9d1&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb
Realistic NASCAR's next event will be the Kyoto 400. Information on this event may be found here: http://www.lfsforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=350
Thanks to everybody who made this event possible! We hope to do it again next year.
Cameron Corns - Director of Realistic NASCAR
-February 8, 2012 by Cameron Corns
The IndyCar 250 was taken home by Ramon Blauwhoff of the Netherlands and spdoRacing. His number 24 car stormed through the field after being involved in a crash on the 43rd lap of the race and never fell out of the top five again. At the line he defeated the second place vehicle driven by Remco Majoor of Scuderia GP who also hails from the Netherlands by 0.04 seconds. 0.59 seconds behind the winner in third place came Sebastian Rodriguez for Brothers on Track who hails from Uruguay, and in fourth place came Edgars Pulins for PlayerZone who hails from Latvia. Miroslaw Braksator of Poland rounded out the top five for ZION Team.The starting grid included 17 racers hailing from 10 different nations and was headed up by the number 89 of Irina Billianov from Poland with a lap time of 36.85 seconds (180.928 mph or 291.175 km/h).
The race took the green flag following the 5 pace laps in a double file formation and cars immediately fanned out three, four and sometimes even five abreast in the opening seconds of the race as drivers fought for position. A few minor incidents occurred towards the back of the pack which were not deemed severe enough to warrant a full course yellow, and the race remained under green flag for the first six scored laps of the race until the number 31 of Yuri Laszlo became stranded on the apron in turn number one following damages sustained on the first lap of the race.The field was lead to the green flag by Irina Billianov who remained at the point and immediately at the green there were some cars around towards the back of the pack, but once again the track remained clear so the green flag remained out. Is was in this the second run of the day that drivers were able to settle into a grove and settle down as the second green flag run lasted from lap number 12 until lap 38.
The second yellow flag of the day came as a result of contact between the then second place vehicle of Irina Billianov and the number 13 of Scuderia GP driven by Damian Eikelkamp of the Netherlands who was at the time scored a lap down in 9th position. Damian Eikelkamp was denied the free pass on the second yellow flag of the day due to causing the caution flag. In addition, following the race he was penalized a lap for causing contact with a competitor laps ahead without possibility of advancing his position.The number 88 driven by Filip Dabrowski of Poland lead the field back to the green flag on lap number 46, but the yellow flag was quickly thrown once again following a seven car pile up between turns number 1 and 2 which involved the number 99 (Kasper Nielsen), number 45 (Gerrit Conradie), number 11 (Bozhidar Velinov), number 21 (Gage Reisinger), number 24 (Ramon Blauwhoff), number 50 (Teppo Rinne) and number 69 (Rasmus Larsen). All would continue following the incident with the exception of the number 50 of Teppo Rinne who became the 4th driver to retire from the event and officially recorded a 14th place finish.
Filip Dabrowski once again lead the field to the green flag on the race's third restart on lap number 50 of 135. He would fall a few positions on the restart handing the lead to the number 93 of and he retired from the event on lap number 53 following contact with the number 12 vehicle driven by Mark Berends of the Netherlands.This handed the lead over to the number 93 of Edgars Pulins who would soon be joined by the number 24 of Ramon Blauwhoff and the number 14 of Remco Majoor in the lead pack. Through the run the number 14 and 24 were able to create separation between themselves and the number 93, but the rest of the field still was not able to catch up to the three leaders.
The race would remain under the green flag for 69 laps following the third yellow flag and it wasn't until lap number 129 of 135 that the yellow flag flew once more for the number 21 car driven by Gage Reisinger of the United States which had become disabled on the front stretch after getting loose at the apex of turn number three and smacking the wall hard with the left side of the car with the leaders only a few seconds behind. The incident would cause the Gage to become the 9th driver to retire from the event. He would officially finish in the 8th position ahead of the number 12 of Mark Berends who finished the event 12 laps down following penalties.
The number 14 of Remco Majoor lead the field down to the fourth and final restart of the Second Annual IndyCar 250 with three laps to go. Blauwhoff was beaten on the restart by Majoor, but was able to close the gap thanks to the gap despite Remco attempting to prevent it. Before turn number three Ramon was able to take the lead. Blauwhoff made no attempt to prevent Remco from retaking the lead on the front stretch and leading the 133rd lap.The leaders exchanged positions twice on the back stretch and on the tri-oval the number 24 spdoRacing entry refused to take the lead from the number 14 Scuderia GP car allowing the rest of the pack lead by Edgar Pulins in the 93 and the 07 of Sebastian Rodriguez to close the gap to under a second on the final lap.
Remco Majoor hugged the white line between turns number one and two in order to try and keep the number 24 from slip streaming him. Blauwhoff continued to follow the suggested racing line and closed on Remco entering turn number two and continued to down the short chute between turns two and three as Remco remained on the bottom of the race track all the way through the third turn.
Blauwhoff dropped his car down to the bottom of the race track after the rear tires temporarily lost grip past the apex in turn number three. Once Ramon got the vehicle pointed in the right direction once again he found himself on the bottom of the race track allowing him to draft Majoor through the final part of the turn. After dipping down and drafting the back of Majoor's car briefly he quickly draw his number 24 entry to his competitor's right side and allowed his accumulated speed to lead him to victory by four one hundredths of a second.After the race a confident Ramon Blauwhoff had this to say: "Oval racing is something special, whatever your position, [you] always have a chance to come back and fight for the win. This time though I was in the top 5 the whole race and without taking risks I was confident I could fight for the win in the end. Edgars Pulins was the quickest guy out there, only by working together with Remco Majoor we were able to just stay in front of him driving alone! Then he had some problems with backmarkers and now it was between Remco and me."
So how was the end of the race?
"In the last laps Remco gave me a tough time but kept it fair, just the way I like it. The last lap was intense, I actually forgot to breath!"
When asked about the race second place finisher Remco Majoor said, "The race itself was quite messy at the start. It was a bit unlucky that I was starting second last. I was involved in the 1st accident and got 1 lap behind of the leader. Luckily there were 2 full course yellow after each other. I got my lap back in the first one and with the second restart I drove from the end to the front in 1 lap. And of course there was the closest finish ever. 1.5 hour race and 0.04 seconds behind."
Third place finisher Edgars Pulins, who was arguably the quickest car on the track said, "...I started from eighth place at the beginning. I tried to proceed with caution. Race among the safety car and after they got a good drafts with #93 #24 #14.We were fast and caught the # 12 car which failed to meet the blue flag of the crash and me... I lost draft, then half a race driv[ing] alone. I watched that gasoline may not be enough to end. I thought long and decided not to go in boxes and wait for the fourth position to draft and save fuel. In last lap I arrived in a 0.8% fuel but it was too little and came to an end fuel.
Realistic NASCAR would like to thank Jonathon Provost for providing the Live-stream of the Event New Dimensions Racing for the Server, and all of those who came out to make this event possible. We hope to see you back out on the track for the Kyoto 400 this February.
Realistic NASCAR Officials for this Race:
Sobis: Pace Car
Kid222: Push Car & Race Review
Speedy J: Second in Command
Cornys: Race Control
Race laps chart
Official Results: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19870068/IndyCar%20250%20Results.pdf
Post Race Discussion: http://www.lfsforum.net/showthread.php?t=78179
Live-Stream Replay: http://www.livestream.com/realisticnascar/video?clipId=pla_b45b69a0-8395-4782-a5d6-fbeb636cd9d1&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb
Realistic NASCAR's next event will be the Kyoto 400. Information on this event may be found here: http://www.lfsforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=350
Thanks to everybody who made this event possible! We hope to do it again next year.
Cameron Corns - Director of Realistic NASCAR