SLR heads out to Eastern Europe for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku City, going from one street circuit to the next in the season's early stages for round 5 of the championship
Qualifying had a a mixed spell with rain coming down during Q2 and sparking an early rush out to set a valid time. A quick 5min shower during Q2 and back to dry for Q3 made it an interesting session all round as the drivers would look to guarantee pole position.
Pole would be won by the Red Bull of SLR Dylan, however, he picked up a 5place grid penalty during the session from the game which would then demote the Red Bull driver down to 6th, gifting the McLaren of Crispy2001 the pole position slot, on a time of 1:38.205, which was just over a tenth shy of Dylan. His demotion would push Midzy15 up to P2 on a 1:38.274 and the second McLaren of PaRa in P3, on a 1:38.350.
The 5 lights would go out, and from the broadcast it looked to be a fairly tentative turn 1, however on the exit of turn 2, the Ferrari of V2 x Combat was tagged in exit which would spin on the apex, leading to drivers being bunched up and left with little room to move round the stricken Ferrari
The best starting action would come from the Alpine of Riggs and then ZyDRAD in the AlphaTauri, as both battled and managed to make their way past the slow starting SLR Alfie in the Mercedes. Crispy would maintain the lead from Midzy off the start as the top 4 remain unchanged
Midzy would make his move into T1 on L2 for the lead of the race, as both drivers would look to try and bridge a gap from PaRa on the mediums. Turn 2 on Lap 2 would see V2 x Combat get caught up in an incident with Blaze in the Mercedes, as both drivers would come together and try to get up and going again
SLR Dylan and ZyDRAD looked to be early movers in this race as Dylan would be up to P4 by lap 3 and ZyDRAD began recovering places by getting past Alfie and then the Alpine of Riggs on Lap 3. Lap 3 would also see the Alpine of Riggs spin on the back straight and as the car would be propelled back onto the main line, it was a matter of fate that nobody would be collected as the Alpine spun and lost control, and in turn, put the Scottish driver on the back foot this race.
The front 6 would become a well established DRS train during the coming laps as they all tried their utmost to stay in and manage their races behind the leading Williams, and with a train forming, it would become a tight rope for strategy, which would bring great interest in the coming laps
Lap 7 would see both McLarens mount a charge toward Midzy on the straight into T1 and with Crispy looking up the inside, was slightly tapped by his teammate on the braking, which acted as a let off for Midzy, who could manage his exit and maintain the lead through stronger traction off the corner, but as these laps ticked off, it was more and more likely that it was the tyres playing their part as the shift to mediums became more favourable with para getting more involved in this leading battle. At the end of this lap, both Midzy and Crispy would pit off the Softs and onto the medium. This would then trigger the soft-medium strategy and crispy would lose out as SLR Dylan would manage to jump the McLaren and up inbetween the two former leaders
PaRa would lead following the pit stops as the medium starters would lead from lap 9, and in the midfield, SLR Dylan would look to make his move on Midzy15, who would make it 10x harder for the red bull to make any inroads. A mistake later on the lap would see Dylan with no wing and back into the pits and our behind FRA Ham in 13th
As the top runners would look to stabilise their races, it looked to be the other red bull of raceroller looking to make moves as he would tuck in behind the Haas of UKbeastAssassin, and would make the move into Turn 1 on lap 11, with bezzas pitting for hards, it would promote the red bull into the podium positions.
PaRa and Alfie would pit from the lead onto the hard tyres as the battle for strategy would ramp up with the leaders on different tyres and strategy, and bit would be raceroller leading from UKbeastAssassin. Alfie would spin immediately after pitting at Turn 1 on lap 13, losing any progress he made during the first stint
The race would be thrown up in the air after the Aston Martin of FRA Jam would crash at the Bunny Hop at turn 14 on lap 16 and bring out a full course caution, bringing the race behind the safety car. Roller and UKbeastAssassin would use this opportunity to jump onto softs and out in respectable P4 and P5 positions. ZyDRAD would stay out and inherit the lead under SC from Ragga Yute in the Haas, and with PaRa making a late call into the pit, would see Roller and Beast upgraded to P3 and P4. Midzy and Crispy would pit for fresh mediums, so it was anyone's guess as to what would unfold in the final laps
ZyDRAD would lead the grid away back under green flags... For a whole half a lap as the SC would be needed again for an incident at the castle section. A terrible day for Aston Martin as both cars would be out of the race, but in the short burst of racing, roller wasted no time in getting the lead and would just take the position before the track went under full yellow.
Lap 22 would see Raceroller lead the pack away on a set of fresh softs as ZyDRAD and ragga Yute would be left to fend off the fresher tyres behind, and they'd only have to defend.... For another lap, as the safety car would make its third appearance after contact for the Williams of bezzas into turn 8 would see him facing the opposing traffic, and for the Ferrari of Coupe a Benz and Riggs coming together at the castle section and providing a road block for those behind and bringing the safety car out again to clear the debris
Roller would lead them away on the final 2 laps and with the chequered flag almost in sight, the racing would be at its fiercest as drivers would look to get any points available to them, and with ZyDRAD on the older medium tyres, he'd soon see himself being barraged by the drivers behind, as UKbeastAssassin and Midzy15 both took their chances on lap 26 at turns 2 and 3 respectively, and Crispy would look at the inside, but close racing meant he would have to yield the position and stick back in behind.
A few corners later would see the Haas of Ragga Yute brake too late into the tight turn 5/6 chicane, and drive into the back of Crispy and almost collect the other McLaren of PaRa as well, as crispy would retire soon after, and ragga Yute would come off with some damage to the car.
Raceroller would be the first to see the chequered flag in Baku in what would end up being his first race win in SLRs top tier, with UKbeastAssassin finishing 2nd for his first podium in the top tier, and with Midzy15 crossing the line in 3rd to collect another podium and a decent haul of points once again.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.38.205
1. Crispy2001
2. Midzy15
3. PaRa Quickz
4. bezzas1
5. UKBeastAssassin
6. SLR Dylan
7. ZyDrad
8. SLR AlfiwDK
9. R1ggs8
10. Coupe a Benz
11. Ragga Yute
12. Raceroller22
13. V2 x Combat
14. SalveBlaze
15. Arb0n EPA
16. JibJab325
17. SLR Niki
18. FRA Ham19
19. gho3t COLT
20. FRA Jam40
Race
1. raceroller22
2. UKBeastAssassin
3. Midzy15
4. ZyDRAD
5. Arbon EPA
6. bezzas1
7. PaRa Quickz +3 sec
8. FRA Ham19 -5 sec
9. gh03t COLT
10. V2 x Combat
11. R1ggs8
12. JibJab325
13. Ragga Yute +10 sec
14. Crispy2001
15. SLR Dylan (DNF)
16. SLR AlfieDK (RET)
17. Coupe a Benz (DNF)
18. SLR Niki (DNF)
19. FRA Jam40 (DNF)
20. SalveBlaze (RET) Qualifying ban
ZyDRAD vs PaRa Quicks
Decision-NFA
Reason- we believe the move was on for para as a gap was there to the inside. The nature of the corner meant they made contact
Additionally, the clip sent in shows para giving as much room as he possibly can as his wheel is turning sharply left
FRA Ham19 vs 5s pen
Decision: penalty removed
Reason- Niki hits ham under SC. Ham sent us all required evidence for the pen to be removed
Dylan vs midzy
Decision- NFA
Reason- midzy makes a move down the inside of Dylan but as the corner is quite tight they make a bit of contact on exit. It’s a tight corner, no damage was done to either car and midzy makes as much of an effort as he can to make the corner without causing any major damage to Dylan. So we don’t feel this is a penalty
Alfie vs PaRa
Decision: 3s+1LP to PaRa
Reason: Alfie attempts a move on para but para doesn’t quite give him enough room on the apex of the corner, causing Alfie to spin. A minor penalty has been awarded because Alfie makes the move fairly late, the contact is minor and Alfie is never quitefully alongside para, although para could have left more room so is the driver predominately at fault.
Crispy vs Ragga
Decision- 10s+2LP to Ragga
Reason: Ragga completely misses his braking point, hitting the back of crispy and causing the mclaren to lose control of his car.
Ragga vs crispy
Decision- NFA
Reason: We do not believe crispy intentionally turns into Ragga, or in fact turns into him at all. Crispy has very little control of his car from the contact in the above incident and from a bit of contact with PaRa in turn 5. This means that when Ragga tries to get past crispy on the exit of the chicane the two end up sandwiched together against the wall. Crispy is not at fault for this
Ragga vs para
Decision- NFA
Reason- Similar to the incident with between midzy and Dylan. It was para’s corner, he can’t turn in any more and Ragga potentially should have backed out on the exit.
Dylan vs Para (includes Arbon)
decision-NFA/racing incident
Reason- we feel the gap is there for para to go for the move. Him and Dylan make a bit of contact at the apex of turn 2 and this would be fine racing contact except arbon’s nose is on the outside. Dylan slightly touches arbon’s nose and we believe this contact causes him to be dragged slightly to the right and into the wall, giving him damage. An unfortunate collision but we don’t put the blame on any party here.
SalveBlaze retiring on track
Decision- QB and 5LB to blaze
Reason: Blaze retired on track twice. Once during Q2 and again lap 1. We have chosen to give him a single qualifying ban for these two infractions rather than two as a single more severe incident would be met with only one qualifying ban. Additionally, we give a strong reminder to SalveBlaze that if you wish to retire from the session you must drive safely into the pits and retire there. Additionally a warning that if blaze does it again then a more severe penalty will be awarded.
As The drivers have had time to get over one street circuit we arrive at another with last weeks race winner starting where he left off! He was the fastest man in qualifying with a 1.38.539 followed by SLR Vandoorne completing the front row with championship leader LP Smoke just behind in third.
5 lights went out and klutzy reacted well to stay ahead into turn 1 and the top 3 stayed the same, championship leader LP Smoke got off to a poor start being overtaken by his team mate SLR Bennett and dropping further down the order but later on that lap SLR Bennett would go onto completely outbrake himself and Crash at the castle section luckily not causing him to retire but he would be last with a lot of work to do! Lap 2 and SLR Vandoorne overtook klutzy into turn 1 these two look to have a race long battle two extremely quick drivers who will both be keen on winning the title and certainly have the pace to do so!
Lap 6 and SLR Vandoorne found himself third after damaging his wing after a collision with the wall which allowed klutzy back into the lead, Elite x Riskz and rockamad took no time to get the move done on Vandoorne the same lap!
Lap 6 and our first retirement came via SLR Semm retiring in the pits then quickly followed by SLR Allen.
We skip to lap 14 and bad otter had crashed causing the safety car to come out which meant nearly everyone came in for a fresh set of tyres and SLR Bennett came in for mediums initially then decided to switch to softs just before coming into his box and accidentally switched it to intermediate tyres so he would come in the lap later to pit for some fresh softs.
The safety car came in on lap 18, klutzy had a perfect restart retaining the lead, SLR Vandoorne almost lost the car out of turn 1 and was overtaken by rockamad73.
Legendarydannyd and SLR padre collided at turn 1 dropping down the field allowing Bennett and Darren into the points.
The checkered flag waved and nothing was going to stop race winner Klutzywinter830 who claims back to back wins in dominant fashion the podium would be rounded out by Elite x Riskz in second with SLR Vandoorne in third.
As we move to Canada next week we ask is there anyone that can stop Klutzywinter830 and the momentum he’s carrying with him right now?
Onto Canada!
Qualifying
Pole Time: 1:38.539
1. KlutzyWinter830
2. SLR Vandoorne
3. LP Smoke
4. ELiTE x RisKz
5. SLR Bennett3810
6. camo432
7. BadOtterTV
8. rockamad73
9. SLR Morgan
10. Darren l 22
11. legendarydannyd
12. SLR Semm
13. SLR Allen
14. SotierClock110
15. SLR Padre
16. SLR Liamm
17. OwenHowell36
18. ARL PReDaToRZz
19. l VR46 l
20. DPT Paul
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:40.997 - Darren l 22
1. KlutzyWinter830
2. ELiTE x RisKz
3. SLR Vandoorne
4. camo432
5. ARL PReDaToRZz
6. SLR Morgan
7. DPT Paul
8. SLR Bennett3810
9. l VR46 l (+5s)
10. LP Smoke
11. legendarydannyd
12. SLR Liamm
13. OwenHowell36
14. Darren l 22 (FL)
15. SotierClock110
16. rockamad73 (DNF)
17. SLR Padre (RET)
18. BadOtterTV (DNF)
19. SLR Allen (RET)
20. SLR Semm (RET)
legendarydannyd Vs SLR Padre -Collision (lap 22)
Outcome: 5 seconds + 2LP
Reason: Danny breaks very late going into turn 1, Padre also breaks late however goes deep and leaves very little space for Danny to come back onto the track therefore squeezing him into the wall and the collision taking place.
legendarydannyd Vs SLR Padre - Dive bomb (lap 1)
Outcome: Racing incident
Reason: Padre has the right to go for the move into turn 2. As it's Baku and there is only so much space, we feel this was just an unfortunate collision of cars and nobody was at fault for this.
SLR Liamm Vs l VR46 l Vs DPT Paul - Collision (lap 18)
Outcome: 5 secs + 1LP
Reason: After reviewing Paul's POV, he has absolutely no contact with Liam so he is not at fault. In Liam's POV he is hit from behind by VR although it was only slight it was still enough for Liam to lose control, hit Paul's car and therefore spin altogether.
Darren l 22 Vs SLR Bennett - Dangerous driving (lap 1)
Outcome: No action taken
Reason: This is very simple. Bennett crashes into the wall at castle and then almost straight away is hit from behind by Rockamad which makes Bennett's car spin through castle the way it does.
SLR Morgan Vs camo432 (lap 23)
Outcome: Racing incident
Reason: Camo tries a move around Morgan's outside at turn 3 which probably wasn't the best idea considering there was almost no space, an attempt up the inside would of been much easier. However no one received any damage or spins out so this is nothing more than a racing incident.
SLR Morgan Vs ARL PReDaToRZz #23 (lap 19)
Outcome: No action taken
Reason: On the exit of turn 1 Predz loses his back end slightly. Morgan then thinks Predz moves over and squeezes him into the wall. After reviewing the clip sent to us, Predz does not move over whatsoever, there was space left and Morgan just decides to back out going into turn 2.
In Division 2 this week a slight lack of numbers and a couple of qualifying bans meant everyone racing went through to Q2 which saw a mixture of tyre strategies implemented ahead of the race.
A thrilling Q3 saw MasseyF1 just pip SLR DOLP1N to pole by .011 of a second. Scar B0rga had his best qualifying of the season in P3 a couple tenths back. Meanwhile SLR ALE picked up P6 on debut.
To the race then and a fairly equal start though we’d see a bit of a pile up in turn two involving a number of cars and the track being blocked until the drivers could sort themselves.
The race settled for the next few laps with OG James 96 and the welcomed return of AG ll Panther the biggest gainers from there starting position and Panther would pull off a great overtake on James on Lap 4.
On lap 6 however we’d see our first safety car. Lots choosing to pit at this stage. We wouldn’t get going again until lap 10 where SLR Jack lost a wing and a few others followed suit with wing damage. JackMullCGFC then lost it and another safety car was required on lap 11.
A few more of the top guys pit so the remaining grid got flipped on its head from a few laps earlier. On the restart Kiara would take the lead into turn 1 and over the next couple of laps there would be a 6 way fight for the lead. At the end of lap 15 heading into lap 16 SLR Barlow had a controller malfunction which left him with no brakes which would see him make contact with the two in front and the wall forcing him to retire and cause our 3rd safety car in about 10 laps and there would now only be 10 laps left with multiple choosing to pit J Lee Menz on 8 lap old mediums. Would be P2 having been last by a considerable margin earlier on in the race.
We managed a couple more racing laps before SLR Kiara crashed and caused our 4th and final safety car you’ll be pleased to hear. On the restart lots of fighting for position giving the shortage of laps left meant a contact between 4 or 5 drivers.
Championship leader MasseyF1 has a pedal problem forcing him to retire.
SLR ALE on debut would then lose it at the castle section well running P3 with 1 and a half laps left.
J Lee Menz remarkably would pick up the win running on 17 lap old mediums and OG James would pick up his best result in Division picking up P2, SLR DOLP1N would cross the line P3 but eventually finish P4 after a time penalty. SLR Leah therefore rounded off the podium. AG ll Panther would have an incident on@the last lap so would be P6 and SLR Hyperz would take P5 on the last lap. GoldenEggFryer P7, SLR Jack P8.
Some new faces will be on the grid for Canada see you then.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.39.123
1. MasseyF1
2. SLR Dolph1n
3. Scar BOrga
4. SLR Jack
5. SLR Hyperz
6. SLR ALE
7. OG Jammes 96
8. GoldenEggFryer
9. AG II Panther
10. SLR Hicklin
11. SLR Barlow
12. LSW L3g3nd 44
13. SLR Kiara
14. SLR Leah
15. SLR Teddy
16. JackMullCGFC
17. J Lee Menz
18. DraSt1k bLazE
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.42.243 SLR Hyperz
1. J Lee Menz
2. OG James 96
3. SLR Leah
4. SLR Dolphin
5. SLR Hyperz
6. AG II Panther
7. GoldenEggFryer
8. SLR Jack +5 sec
9. SLR Hicklin (DNF)
10. SLR ALE (DNF)
11. MasseyF1 (DNF)
12. SLR Kiara (DNF)
13. SLR Barlow (DNF)
14. JackMullCGFC (DNF)
15. LSW L3g3nd44 (DNF)
16. SLR Teddy (DNF)
17. Scar BOrga (DNF)
18. dRaSt1k bLazE (DNF)
Incident - B0rga vs SLR Jack
Outcome - 5 Seconds and 1LP to SLR Jack
Reason - Jack isn’t paying attention and slightly taps B0rga during the formation lap, causing them both to be reset to the grid.
Welcome back to slr division 3 here in Baku after a skullkiller win in Monaco.
Qualifying went as follows skullkiller in pole position with slr Charlie just behind in p2 with kopkidjack in p3 and sf1 moley in p4 gregers in p5 and slr colden in p6 and xjgeddes in p7 cosmic Cameron in p8, Scott laney in p9 and slr Russell in p10
Here we go the 5 red lights go out and skullkiller leads the way and there is a massive crash at the back including 5 cars with several cars losing there wing and it’s a virtual safety car that instantly changes to a full safety before turn 3! Slr st2oh, slr nealix, slr stevoo, cow3n and slr Gareth all have a 5 second penalty and 7 cars have to pit for a new wing change already. Lap 3 and skullkiller leads the safety car restart with slr Charlie closely behind him and vision makes a move off the restart past gregers uk. Slr j3st3r overtakes Scott laney just before another massive crashes as slr stevoo becomes our second retirement of the race and Scott laney then loses the car on the back straight and gives himself damage and it is a full safety car once again! This is the 2nd one of the race.
And for the 2nd time this race skullkiller leads the way and kopkidjack is under a lot of pressure from moley and sprightly has lost the car on t2 and drops to p17. Yellow flags and slr nealix has now crashed out and it’s another safety car on lap 8! Now skullkiller has pitted along with slr colden, moley, vision and gregers. Lap 10 and Charlie leads away the restart and catches kopkidjack napping and maxwell and Gareth battle and Gareth gets the move done into p4. Cosmic Cameron has had a really good start to this race up into p3. Xjgeddes has lost out 2 positions to unrealsalmon and moley and cosmic Cameron in p3 has lost his entire front wing and has to pit. In p5 maxwell has got wing damage and drops 3 places and now Scottlaney has now lost his wing so he will have to pit again. Sf1 moley makes a very simple move past maxwell and slr st20h hits a wall and has to pit with colden collecting damage off of him put decides to stay out with his damage. Lap 13 and now sprightly has spun and loses his wing and drops to p12. Kopkidjack makes an early pit stop from p2 and goes to the hard compound tyres. Now cosmic Cameron has crashed out of the race and brings out the 4th safety car and slr Charlie does pit for the first time for the softs.
Vision now leads the safety car away with unrealsalmon closely behind and moley makes his way up to p2 with skullkiller makes his move into p4 with Charlie all over the back of kopkidjack with j3st3r close behind and Slr st2oh has crashed out of the race making that the 6th retirement and slr Charlie makes his way up to p5 and kopkidjack and j3st3r both get damage after jack going slowly down the straight and colden is up to p6. Now skullkiller and Charlie make a place up to p3 and p4 after unrealsalmon makes a collision with the wall now Charlie goes for a move past skullkiller and gets forced wide and gets damage and now loses a lot of pace. Kopkidjack now also crashes out. Slr Gareth makes an easy move past unrealsalmon with gregers also getting past and now gregers wants to to get 2 for the price of one and now begins to battle with Gareth. Lap 21 now and Charlie makes a move into p3 past moley and skullkiller now has to try and catch vision for the win. Now vision pits from the lead and drops to p8. Both red bulls are eyeing up a move past Charlie who is struggling with his damage and moley does eventually gets past Charlie, now Charlie hits the castle and loses his entire wing so geddes goes past him into p3 and colden gets past Gareth into turn 1 into p4 and Charlie now has to pit for a new wing and that is his chances at a podium gone.
Vision now gets past colden into p5 on lap 25. Yellow flags in sector 1 as cow3n and j3st3r both come together and j3st3r comes out worse and unrealsalmon now spins at castle giving Charlie p9. Xjgeddes now gets past his teammates into p2 and vision now up into p4. Down the final straight of the final lap moley gets geddes and so does vision and geddes will be gutted after losing p2 in a flash. Slr Charlie also makes a last ditch move past colden to go to p8.
And that is the end to another race in division 3 and skullkiller does take the win with moley in p2, vision in p3 xjgeddes in p4 slr Gareth in p5, gregers in p6 Maxwell in p7 slr Charlie in p8, slr colden in p9 and slr sprightly in p10
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.53.682
1. SkullKiller1014
2. SLR Charlie1
3. KopKidJack2005
4. SF1 Moley
5. Gregers UK
6. SLR Colden
7. x J Geddes x
8. I Cxmzn I
9. Scott85Laney
10. SLR Russell
11. I21I Maxwell
12. SLR Spr1tley
13. SLR Stevooo
14. SLR J3st3r
15. COw3n
16. UnrealSalmon590
17. SLR Gareth
18. Vision2614
19. SLR St2oH
20. SLR Nealix
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.41.849 UnrealSalmon590
1. Skullkiller1014
2. SF1 Moley
3. Vision2614
4. x J Geddes x
5. SLR Gareth
6. Gregers UK
7. I21I Maxwell
8. SLR Charlie1
9. SLR Colden
10. SLR Spr1tley
11. SLR J3st3r
12. COw3n
13. UnrealSalmon590
14. KopKidJack2005 (DNF)
15. SLR St2oH (DNF)
16. Scott85Laney (DNF)
17. I Cxmzn I (DNF)
18. SLR Nealix (DNF)
19. SLR Stevooo (DNF)
20. SLR Russell (DNF)
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