CityLiga 16 has ended. The unanswered question who becomes CityLiga 16 champion was answered off-track prior to the season's finale already. 3id J.Holmes was not able to compete in the final race, so ﾒ C. Winkler was awarded his second championship within three seasons. Congratulations!
Instead of cruising to his overall win, he wanted to celebrate by winning Round 9. So he chased his former teammate CoRe Chris, who trained well enough to be in reach of a race win. After a lead change, initiated by the mandatory pitstops, the two produced a thrilling duel. No presents were given away and complete sectors were raced through side-by-side. ﾒ C. Winkler had to use all his talent and skills and a quantum of luck for the perfect completion of the season.

"After not being able to start in CL15, I was looking foreward to this season. At the half-way mark I gained the right momentum, but Joe was just that bit better most of the time. I want to change that next season." - champion ﾒ C. Winkler

A long time following like a shadow, HoR Schuhti surely thought to still have chances for a shot at the race win. After two spins in the chicane before start/finish however, he even had sort himself in behind now third placed ERR.EKSTRÖM, who achieved his best CL result. The season 15 champion can be lucky to have made it home in fourth. For HoR Schuhti it is the seventh finish on the overall podium, with his first in Spring 2009. The mistakes however lead to not being able to conquer P. Kubinji's overall runner-up position, who had to retire earlier from the race.

"It has been a season with many upsets, great competitors and good fights. I hope I gain a lot of motivation from that for next season and show more of my potential then." - runner-up P. Kubinji

"I didn't expect much of the season. I entered the first races without any expectation and that way they also turned out. Around mid-season accidents with hotheads were additionally an issue. The final three races however were much fun and I could collect enough points to help winning the third consecutive team championship." - third placed HoR Schuhti

Maybe this team championship is more then just a consolation prize. Heroes of Racing overtook Team ev0 #1 and secured the hat-trick. Another reason to celebrate for the black, red and gold team is the third place of their second team in front of Xcite Racing.

Apart from these top decisions, like always there was much action throughout the grids and some of the names who are missing above might now appear. With a total of 128 sign-ups there is quiet a number of names to pick from in CL16. This is a new sign-up record for the younger, post-TPS era but likely also for the whole nine year history of the CityLiga. 99 at-the-time entries for grid qualification and 108 for the second Round of the season, something noone ever thought was possible. The down-side was a very long waiting list which cleared itself just before the end of the season. After 14 withdrawals and sadly 45(!) disqualifications, 69 sign-ups were left at the finale.
63 drivers stayed throughout the season of which 19 also started at all nine rounds, 18 started in all eleven race sessions and the following 8 even finished every race: ﾒ C. Winkler, ev0»G.Eckhardt, HoR hanfer, ev0»H.Tries, HoR Joker, eX.R Asco, -[BC]-Jens and Mario. SRTA Mensafest would also have added his name to this list if he hadn't supported the CityLiga administration in the season finale, a special thank at this place. Without the drop results, the group above would have scored between 266 and 130 points more. 41 other drivers seem to have planned the drop results into their season, as they just started at seven of the nine season rounds.

When 32 starting lights switched to green 676 engines roared. 593 times the chequered flag was shown, which consequently results in a total of 83 retirements or an average of 7,55% retirements per race. On might think that the Austrians are cursed because FRT Temporato had to retire four times, RTWS' ICE and Smoke three times each. [IoD]W!cked, CoRe Chris and the ev0» duo of P.Röben and S.Kramer, although not being Austrian, also suffered from three retirements.
The 25% retirements and 16% absence at the BF1 round are surprising. Not everyone seems to have the courage for this rocket ;-) . When racing its little BMW brother, the FBM, only 5,1% reported to be absent. Also 5,1% but for retirments were entered into the record books at the TBO race. At the TBO, FBM, STD and LX4 evenings 70 racers were present, the highest number of CL16. For the CL finale >30% were absent, so the grids two and three merged to have some nicely filled servers for the 42 active.

race winners of CL16
5 3id J.Holmes (+2 other podium finishes)
2 ﾒ C. Winkler (6)
2 HoR Totti & [IoD]C0r3 (3 each)
2 -[BC]-Pr3d4t0R (2)
2 «BFVR»DiDi & CR|Hoiting (1 each)
2 cq.gordon (0)
1 eX.R Blacky (4)
1 ERR.EKSTRÖM (3)
1 ev0»F.Hillen, cq.msk & eXeYn (2 each)
1 P.Kubinji, ineX Philip Ellis, ERR.SCHUMI91, HoR hanfer, pod.germanpio & HoR jueweb (1 each)
1 CoRe Vale, FFR C. Thun & CoRe F.Enersen (0)

Enough for the numbers of the season. What is left to say is that the competitors can now download the certificates in the download area of CityLiga.de. Those who earned a special certificate due to their position was contacted via PM on CityLiga.de. The Hall of Fame is not yet up-to-date and updating it will take some time.
The end belongs to those, who make the it possible. Thank you to avetere, Falke, KlausAdam, Luder and splattael!

CityLiga wishes a merry christmas and a happy new year!


article by Jogy
translation by Falke