...a season of CityLiga is over, perhaps too early for some of you, for others maybe too late. Whether it was the (finally) onset of summer in many parts of Germany respectively Europe, decreasing motivation or other reasons, that only 38 UF1 leaved the pits for the final race of the CL17, remains questionable. For sure, the combination of this neither power-bounding nor thrill of speed seducing 'car' with the very fast and fluid track of Westhill is unusual and without other drivers around not very attention attracting, but the disappointment regarding the low number of drivers grew more and more less with the ongoing of the final evening.

Already the qualification revealed, that the field was very close together: meanwhile there where up to five drivers on equal laptimes, what straightened out a little bit, but the gaps stood tight (results qualification Grid 1, Grid 2).
This impression was confirmed during the races and the numerous options for fighting and overtaking were used intensive. Almost everyone should have laughed in his sleeve in order to bang his fist on the table shortly afterwards. Probably as an exception that proves the rule, ﾒcite Andy signed up especially for this final and delivered a one man show within the second grid. In 'respectful distance', [IoD]Wulf, -[BC]-C.Parker, who also whipped in for this race, and RM. Xone arranged the spots on the podium of heat 1 among theirselves (result). In the beginning of the second run, advantaged by the reversed grid -[BC]- Nima gathered some leading laps, but had to let pass again Andy, Xone, HoR spooky and teammate C.Parker (result).

In the first grid, the main focus was naturally directed to the question of the champion: メ C.Winkler had to either finish both races ahead of his only remaining rival HoR Schuhti or at least fourth in each to defend his title from the CityLiga 16 successfully. Failing the first criteria against the struggling bravely 'hero', but fulfilling the second one with two places on the podium (results heat 1 & heat 2) seemed to be easy & relaxed. With an incredible constancy, he managed - as indeed -[BC]- HaiTauR, -[BC]- Markus, [IoD] W!cked, [ЯM] Commo, FFR M.Mund und HoR Joker – to finish every single race, missed the top 10 only in the second race due to a puncture and repeated Maddin's brilliant feat (1st CL11 & CL12) as the first: congratulations! Afterwards it became publicly known, that this was also his last success in the colours of Xcite Racing, because from now on he will drive together with his former companions C.Kistner and M.Paluch for CoRe. Last named got through a whole season in the third attempt (albeit without participation in the final), but scraped just 13 points past a slot on the podium. Unlike (how else it could be?) Schuhti, who putted his feet on one of the stairs for the eighth time in total.
He picked up teammate hanfer onto it, who belongs in his tenth season like so many of Heroes of Racing to the CL-inventory in someway, but never finished so high up in the final rankings (4th CL12). And this with a season opener in the second grid, whereby two victories and a third place popped out. Together with him, FFR M.Mund managed 'back then' the promotion and with very constant, ever improving, in the victory of very last race culminating results his way to overall rank five. Thus one position in front of one of the top favorites P.Schülter, who didn't take in the last two races after not finishing the first two ones and slipping chances for the title. Completing the trio of promoted drivers after the first cycle, ERR.EKSTRÖM was not only competitive within the race's top ten afterwards, but also in overall and thus improved his premiere season's rank by five places. As the best non German-speaking representative, S M.Kapal, lingered three more races in Grid two, but nevertheless (or because of it?) jumped into the top10 for the first time at his third attempt. That a small break from racing (especially as a raceadmin) does not necessarily have to be apostate to the performance, was proved by GRT Climbs, who (quasi-)equaled his best result (8th CL15). The last place within the overall top10 remarkably went to an absolute newbie, not only in the CityLiga, but in LfS generally: at the end RS M.Kloc retained just 3 respectively 14 points ahead -[BC]- Markus und [IoD] W!cked.


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CL17 – participants per team (wins+ podiums):
12 Burnoutcrew (3+8)
9 Heroes of Racing (7+15)
6 Xcite Racing (6+9)
5 IoD Racing (0+3)
4 Racing Team Styria Wien (0), Team ev0 (0), Tera(Mindfactory) (0+1)
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The results of the final races had no influence on the top of the team standings, which was won by Ethi, Schuhti, hanfer und Joker for Heroes of Racing the fourth time in a row. As in the preseason, the guys (C. Barnick, M. Ecken and Rubi) around driver champion C.Winkler had to be satisfied with the fourth place, while the RacingMinds in persona of Commo, schumi91, FFR M.Mund und ERR.EKSTRÖM and the 'motley crew' of 9-Star-Favorites with P. Kubinji, CoRe M.Paluch, CoRe C.Kistner, P.Schülter und GenR Seb came to enjoy the the well-deserved certificates. Although represented by a large number of drivers, the BurnoutCrew hadn't a say about their award and their spearhead with Markus, Nima, GEHEIMRAT and Cooper finally became fifth.

What ended in this way, began in February with the grid qualification in Aston and Fern Bay with the GTRs respectively the FXO and along ten, from entire LfS wild mixed racing evenings eachof the 110 participants could proof his allround skills in each of the 13 runs more or less. During the CityLiga 17 starting lights turned green for 40 times and and 742 engines (max. 79 in the season opener) roared, among which were always the ones of -[BC]- Berndi, -[BC]- Jens, [IoD] Wulf, [ЯM]schumi91, FRT Mighty Pharao, FRT Temporato, HoR hanfer, HoR Schuhti, HoR spooky, just.PapaX, RS M.Kloc and RTSW ICE besides the above-mentioned seven drivers, who finished every single heat. Almost [IoD] grsM belonged to this group, but he didn't start the second heat on final evening.

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CL17 – participants:
110 sign-ups in total
80,5 average (max 98 for R02; min 60 after R10)
59 drivers made it from GridQuali to finale
23 withdrawals
27 disqualifications
17 nations (GER 77; AUT 12; GBR 4; BUL, FIN, CH 2; AUS, DEN, EST, FRA, LTU, MEX, NED, NOR 1)
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667 chequered flags means 75 retirements or an DNF-average of 5.8%. Its maximum was on the seventh day (MRT @ Fe31) with 27.1%, closely followed by R02 (FXO @ Fe2r, 22.1%) and - as expected - the FO8 race (20.8% @ KY3). Fortunately, there was no retirement the semi-finals of the sixth race day (RB4 @ So2) and only a single one in the hustle and bustle with the GTIs in Aston. Strangely this combo represented another extreme as 20 participants (~ 30%!) didn't even appear for this race, but reported their absence, so this was the only raceday without penalties for non attendance.

Finally remains the thanks to simrace.tv, for letting us use their platform, Dom for his tireless efforts regarding the livestreams, which was on air for each race, and Kevin, Normann, Thilo and Ethi for their support of it! But also to KlausAdam for providing and supervising the CL-LfS-server, Luder for hosting the teamspeak and the replays, Alessandro for the CL-website, that unfortunately ended abrupt, but let yourself be surprised ;-) Deserve to be mentioned in any case, of course (again) Thilo and Jan-Ole, who pushed her wheel aside and watched the others driving with a heavy heart as raceadmins, as well as Marvin, D3vil and Berndi (all from BurnoutCrew!), who supported them as stewards evaluating the protests! As a little 'Thank you', a certificate for participation can be downloaded via: http://www.cl.racemore.de/cl17/urkunden/cl17_certificate_part.zip .