Summit League Racing welcomes Portimao for the first time and where better to make its debut! Formula 2 and its stars of tomorrow…..today throw those curtains wide as we once again kick off the this weeks round where everyone will be eager to see how SLR racing conditions fair at this new track. One man hoping for success here was Crispy2001 back after an unfortunate absence last time out because the codies servers were clapped. Raceroller went into this round with a very healthy lead but by all means it isn’t over! Unfortunately there was no stream so this blog is more of a guess on what I believe happened.
One Shot Quali! Crispy started in the best possible way to bounce back from his heavy disappointment last time out with pole position once again sharing the front row with his UNI Virtuosi teammate in SLR Darnell. SLR Ham19 qualified third just pipping SLR Southerner by the smallest of margins on row two. J Lee Menz would qualify eighth for best Evo Class qualifier. Championship leader Raceroller found himself in 16th following a lap invalidation.
The Feature! For the first time at Portimao revs are up and we are away! Few bits of contact and a spin on lap one but nothing too dramatic as the drivers complete their first racing lap round the track. A good start from UKBeastAssassin leaped himself up to third trailing behind the UNI pair. The front three would begin to pull away from the drivers behind who were in their own battle. Meanwhile Raceroller was making fantastic ground getting himself already into the top eight looking great for decent points to limit the damage from his qualifying. Few laps later Crispy and Darnell would find another gear and pull away further to make it a dual between the teammates for the win. Following the pitstop phase Raceroller jumped both Ham and Southerner into a net P4 in what proved to be a sensational drive for the scot. However whilst in fourth he would be leading and clinging onto the front of a four way battle between himself, Ham, Southerner and SLR Niki. With a few laps to go this would turn into three as Niki would become victim to the horrendous turn eight. Back up front Crispy would do enough to make it a pole to race win just ahead of teammate Darnell. UKBeastAssassin would take the last podium slot further back. Raceroller would complete a stellar drive to finish fourth despite starting sixteenth. Could be a very important drive come the end of the season. Southerner takes fifth ahead of the brothers duo of Ham and Jam. J Lee Menz would take P8 and the Evo feature win in again another impressive performance. Division and SLR Dylan would claim the last points scoring positions.
The Sprint! On reverse grid pole we had J Lee Menz who was sharing the front row with season one champion Jam. Behind in row two was Ham and Southerner. In a wet Sprint race we were away but if your name was Southerner then away very slowly. The ART driver had already lost five places before getting to the first turn where the next following corners we were seeing drivers getting caught out by the conditions by going out wide and out braking which did result in some contact. Early in the race we saw the reigning champion of Ham end up facing the wrong way to end his hopes of a strong finish. Niki had a cracking first few laps already getting himself into the top eight despite starting right at the back in nineteenth. He would find himself once again in a battle with Southerner where on an occasion or two the ART driver would get his elbows out. We saw the safety car for the first time following a retirement from OwenHowell just as the field was beginning to spread. Once racing had resumed we didn’t see much movement but we did see the difference in levels within the grid trying to race in these heavy wet conditions. The one to master the conditions was Raceroller who took sprint victory just ahead of title rival Crispy. In third Jam would take his forty fifth SLR F2 podium just taking the place from Darnell. Southerner would finish in fifth once again ahead of the recovering Niki with UKBeastAssassin taking seventh. SLR Dodgy provisionally finished eighth for the last point and the Evo sprint win.
The gap at the top decreases following a fantastic bounce back round from Crispy to keep the championship alive with the hope Raceroller in the last four rounds has a shocker. Meanwhile the Evo Class championship was separated by only a few points which was now a two horse race between the Campos pairing of Dodgy and Menz. Next up its Russia and we don’t have to wait long for it at all. Will we see another twist?
Blogs Driver of the Round: Crispy2001
Qualifying
1 RACEROLLER22 1:25.006
2 SLR DARNELL
3 SLR HAM19
4 SLR SOUTHERNER
5 UKBEASTASSASSIN
6 ll DIVISION ll
7 SLR JAM40
8 J LEE MENZ
9 SLR NIKI
10 SLR DYLAN
11 OWENHOWELL36
12 SLR BENNETT
13 SLR ALE
14 SLR XHAKA
15 SLR DODGY
16 RACEROLLER22
17 MASONGAMMON05
18 SLR VANDOORNE
19 ll MONKEYY ll
20 -
Feature
1 CRISPY2001
2 SLR DARNELL 1:25.917
3 UKBEASTASSASSIN
4 RACEROLLER22
5 SLR SOUTHERNER
6 SLR HAM19
7 SLR JAM40
8 J LEE MENZ
9 ll DIVISION ll
10 SLR DYLAN
11 SLR DODGY
12 SLR BENNETT
13 OWENHOWELL36
14 SLR ALE
15 SLR XHAKA
16 SLR VANDOORNE DNF
17 MASONGAMMON05 DNF
18 ll MONKEYY ll DNF
19 SLR NIKI DSQ
Sprint
1 RACEROLLER22
2 CRISPY2001 1:31.163
3 SLR JAM40
4 SLR DARNELL
5 SLR SOUTHERNER
6 SLR NIKI
7 UKBEASTASSASSIN
8 SLR DODGY
9 ll DIVISION ll
10 J LEE MENZ
11 SLR ALE
12 SLR DYLAN DNF
13 MASONGAMMON05 DNF
14 SLR XHAKA DNF
15 SLR BENNETT DNF
16 SLR HAM19 DNF
17 OWENHOWELL36 DNF
18 ll MONKEYY ll DNF
19 SLR VANDOORNE DNS
SLR Xhaka vs SLR Dodgy - Lap 2
Outcome: No further Action
SLR Xhaka vs MasonGammon05 - Lap 7
Outcome: No Further Action
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