The 2009 iTCC Touring Car Championship season continues this weekend, moving to Fern Bay in it's 'Gold Reversed' configuration for Round 2 of the Championship, on Sunday 8th February 2009. The meeting is again scheduled for 3 x 25 minute races with a reversed grid for the third race - a battle royale is anticipated with so many drivers filling the grid at this sinuously twisting Jamaican circuit.
The event will again be covered in the iTCC broadcast starting from 1800 GMT (UTC), with the commentating team led by Jonathan Palmer from the New Dimension Racing team. Joining Jonathan is Mike Booth with technical analysis. You can catch the broadcast at
http://www.iconracing.co.uk/itcctv.htm or at http://www.mogulus.com/itcc from 1800 GMT (UTC).
After a frantic and exciting first round at the Westhill International Circuit, the iTCC drivers and their teams move on to the Fern Bay circuit, this time being run in it's 'Gold Reversed' configuration. Practice has been increasing in intensity throughout the week leading up to Sunday's programme as drivers struggle to find the right compromise between outright pace and conserving tyres long enough to last the 17 laps of each race of the triple-header round.
Following some on-track incidents during Safety Car restarts in Round 1, the rules of the iTCC have been revised to be more stringent in this area. Any behaviour on-track which is deemed to be 'unsporting' will be penalised. It is hoped that these measures will bring this issue to a close and once again make for clean and close racing which is rapidly becoming the defining aspect of the iTCC Touring Car Championship.
Talk in the pits this time around is varied. Some drivers are struggling to make their tyres last, with even Rudy van Buren from F1RST Racing admitting he may not make it through the race without cooking his tyres. Others are finding that the high kerbs around the track at Fern Bay are a serious hazard and are to be respected. It is obvious from the feedback from drivers that only absolutely precise racing lines will bring consistently fast lap-times. Many drivers are finding it difficult to achieve this, which will make for some fascinating viewing come this Sunday's races.
Only the top 15 point-scoring drivers in the championship are ‘locked-in’ for Round 2 of the iTCC - so the pressure is on those drivers who did not score at Round 1 to not only qualify themselves through to the main event from the Reserve Shootout, but also to score points in Round 2 to make sure of their place at Round 3. Any driver outside of the top 15 in the Driver’s Championship after Round 2 will have to qualify through the Round 3 Reserve Shootout to secure their place in Round 3 of the iTCC. Scoring points is what it's all about in this Championship. Pace is one thing, but finishing in the points is just as important.
The championship is a 'Touring-Car' race series using only the FXR, which is restricted at the air-intake by 32% to give around 320 BHP.
The intention of this series is to give the racer an enjoyable and competitive race series that is run to similar rules as the BTCC and WTCC touring-car championships - and to give the viewer an unmissable spectacle to watch live on their PCs.
Features of the iTCC championship familiar to fans will include reversed grids and 'success' ballast. These measures are intended to 'level' the field to maintain a healthy competition throughout the season.
The series will run for 6 'triple-header' rounds. That is to say, there is 3 points-scoring races at each round - all of equal length; about 25 minutes each.
The races themselves are available to watch via LFS Remote and ICON TV, which broadcasts commentated live in-game coverage.
Additionally there are replay files made available soon after the race, as well as whole race coverage video, and detailed race statistics also made available.
iTCC 2009 Touring Car Championship Round 2
8th Frebruary 2009 18:00 UTC(GMT)
at Fern Bay (Gold Reversed)
Looking forward to seeing you on the track! And if you're not racing then please feel free to watch the ICON TV broadcasts.
Thanks,
Joe Keaveney - iTCC Admin
The event will again be covered in the iTCC broadcast starting from 1800 GMT (UTC), with the commentating team led by Jonathan Palmer from the New Dimension Racing team. Joining Jonathan is Mike Booth with technical analysis. You can catch the broadcast at
http://www.iconracing.co.uk/itcctv.htm or at http://www.mogulus.com/itcc from 1800 GMT (UTC).
After a frantic and exciting first round at the Westhill International Circuit, the iTCC drivers and their teams move on to the Fern Bay circuit, this time being run in it's 'Gold Reversed' configuration. Practice has been increasing in intensity throughout the week leading up to Sunday's programme as drivers struggle to find the right compromise between outright pace and conserving tyres long enough to last the 17 laps of each race of the triple-header round.
Following some on-track incidents during Safety Car restarts in Round 1, the rules of the iTCC have been revised to be more stringent in this area. Any behaviour on-track which is deemed to be 'unsporting' will be penalised. It is hoped that these measures will bring this issue to a close and once again make for clean and close racing which is rapidly becoming the defining aspect of the iTCC Touring Car Championship.
Talk in the pits this time around is varied. Some drivers are struggling to make their tyres last, with even Rudy van Buren from F1RST Racing admitting he may not make it through the race without cooking his tyres. Others are finding that the high kerbs around the track at Fern Bay are a serious hazard and are to be respected. It is obvious from the feedback from drivers that only absolutely precise racing lines will bring consistently fast lap-times. Many drivers are finding it difficult to achieve this, which will make for some fascinating viewing come this Sunday's races.
Only the top 15 point-scoring drivers in the championship are ‘locked-in’ for Round 2 of the iTCC - so the pressure is on those drivers who did not score at Round 1 to not only qualify themselves through to the main event from the Reserve Shootout, but also to score points in Round 2 to make sure of their place at Round 3. Any driver outside of the top 15 in the Driver’s Championship after Round 2 will have to qualify through the Round 3 Reserve Shootout to secure their place in Round 3 of the iTCC. Scoring points is what it's all about in this Championship. Pace is one thing, but finishing in the points is just as important.
The championship is a 'Touring-Car' race series using only the FXR, which is restricted at the air-intake by 32% to give around 320 BHP.
The intention of this series is to give the racer an enjoyable and competitive race series that is run to similar rules as the BTCC and WTCC touring-car championships - and to give the viewer an unmissable spectacle to watch live on their PCs.
Features of the iTCC championship familiar to fans will include reversed grids and 'success' ballast. These measures are intended to 'level' the field to maintain a healthy competition throughout the season.
The series will run for 6 'triple-header' rounds. That is to say, there is 3 points-scoring races at each round - all of equal length; about 25 minutes each.
The races themselves are available to watch via LFS Remote and ICON TV, which broadcasts commentated live in-game coverage.
Additionally there are replay files made available soon after the race, as well as whole race coverage video, and detailed race statistics also made available.
iTCC 2009 Touring Car Championship Round 2
8th Frebruary 2009 18:00 UTC(GMT)
at Fern Bay (Gold Reversed)
Looking forward to seeing you on the track! And if you're not racing then please feel free to watch the ICON TV broadcasts.
Thanks,
Joe Keaveney - iTCC Admin