We head to Baku for round four of the SLR Formula 2 season where we are back after a two week break. This track has proved in the past to be quite chaotic….would we see the same again?
One shot Quali! After two invalidated qualifying sessions Crispy2001 is back on pole! He would beat last seasons champion Raceroller22 by a couple of tenths and behind in row two saw SLR Corey and SLR Cech. In ninth once again SLR Dodgy was our best Evo qualifier!
The Sprint! On reverse grid pole was MP Motorsports SLR Charlie and joining him on the front row was SLR Dodgy making it an Evo front row. In row two we had the dutch duo in Division and Monkey. It took us until turn two on lap one to see some early chaos where it appeared the ART of SLR Bennett careered into the back of OwenHowell36. Things would eventually calm down in lap three where your leaders were UKBeastAssassin, SLR Darnell, Division with SLR Charlie not far behind. In the early stages your big mover was SLR Southerner who made up eleven places to seventh but unfortunately the hard work would later become undone following contact with J Lee Menz. Lap six SLR Bennetts race got from bad to worse after a retirement which brought out our first safety car. This gave the opportunity for drivers who had damage or had to pit because of damage a second chance for a strong finish. We got back racing with a two lap sprint where Crispy was a man on a mission making up a couple of places on each lap to astonishingly put himself on the podium on the line. On the line it was SLR Darnell with the birthday dub just beating UKBeastAssassin with as just mentioned Crispy taking third who beat Division and Raceroller in a photo finish. SLR Charlie was your Evo sprint winner with an impressive sixth just pipping the recovering Southerner with SLR Dodgy taking the last point in eighth.
The Feature! Sense of De Ja Vu in turn two however there was much more chaos! A bit of squeezing at the front resulted in a eight/nine driver pile up. Unsurprisingly we saw a safety car. We were back away for only three sectors where the safety car was back out again this time because of the retirement of N1GHT RANG3R who crashed whilst fighting at the top having yet to make a stop. Lap nine we resumed but again only for a matter of sectors after a crash at castle corner from J Lee Menz and a separate crash from pole sitter Crispy….it had been a while since we had a night like this in Formula 2. UKBeast opted to pit during the last safety car phase having going for the alternate strategy which cost the MP Motorsport driver placing him down to eleventh out of the points. We resumed for the third time where it was a fight for the win between Raceroller and Darnell. The drama didnt stop as SLR Cech would crash and retire near the front and the last two laps we saw many battles most notably for third between the dutch duo of Monkey, Division and SLR Corey. At the line it was another win for the reigning champion Raceroller who clinched victory by a couple of tenths from Darnell. Monkey would brilliantly claim his first ever SLR Formula 2 podium beating Division and Corey to the last podium slot. SLR Charlie would yet again finish sixth and also claim another Evo race win rounding off a brilliant round for the rookie. SLR Dodgy, UKBeast, SLR Marsh and OwenHowell rounded off your remaining point scorers in a race we saw three Evo drivers score official Formula 2 points!
We sure had our fair share of drama and chaos tonight but Formula 2 can be forgiven as it had been a while since a night like this. A round that had it all nevertheless. We are back next week where we make our long awaited return to France where every time we raced there it takes a matter of metres before we saw a crash……great cant wait.
Blogs Driver of the Round: SLR Charlie
QUALIFYING
1 CRISPY2001 1:48.301
2 RACEROLLER22
3 SLR COREY
4 SLR CECH
5 SLR DARNELL
6 UKBEASTASSASSIN
7 II MONKEYY ll
8 ll DIVISION ll
9 SLR DODGY
10 SLR CHARLIE1
11 J LEE MENZ
12 OWENHOWELL36
13 SLR MARSH
14 SLR BENNETT
15 SLR LEAH
16 PRIMUSGAMING
17 N1GHT RANG3R 95
18 TNXBG
19 SLR SOUTHERNER
20 BAGGIEFAN 1995
SPRINT
1 SLR DARNELL
2 UKBEASTASSASSIN
3 CRISPY2001 1:50.169
4 ll DIVISION ll
5 RACEROLLER22
6 SLR CHARLIE1
7 SLR SOUTHERNER
8 SLR DODGY
9 BAGGIEFAN 1995
10 OWENHOWELL36
11 SLR COREY
12 N1GHT RANG3R 95
13 PRIMUSGAMING
14 SLR LEAH
15 SLR MARSH
16 J LEE MENZ + 10 SEC
17 ll MONKEYY ll DNF
18 SLR BENNETT DNF
19 SLR CECH DNF
20 -
OwenHowell36 vs SLR Bennett3810 Lap 1 - Sprint
Verdict: Racing Incident
Reason: Warning to both OwenHowell36 and SLR Bennett3810 please watch your speeds going to a corner like turn 2 baku. OwenHowell36 approaches the corner going way to fast and out brakes himself hitting into the back of Crispy2001 which then results in SLR Bennett spinning him round giving him minor wing damage. (Would’ve been useful to have a view from SLR Bennett3810).
SLR Southerner vs J lee Menz Lap 4 - Sprint
Verdict: 10 second 3 LP to J Lee Menz
Reason: J Lee Menz punts SLR Southerners towards the wall after braking a lot later into turn 2 which then results in SLR Southerners getting major wing damage.
FEATURE
1 RACEROLLER22
2 SLR DARNELL
3 ll MONKEYY ll
4 ll DIVISION ll
5 SLR COREY
6 SLR CHARLIE1
7 SLR DODGY
8 UKBEASTASSASSIN 1:51.074
9 SLR MARSH
10 OWENHOWELL36
11 SLR SOUTHERNER
12 PRIMUSGAMING
13 BAGGIEFAN 1995
14 SLR BENNETT
15 SLR LEAH
16 J LEE MENZ
17 SLR CECH
18 CRISPY2001 DNF + 5 SECS
19 N1GHT RANG3R 95 DNF + 5 SECS
20 -
Crispy2001 Lap 1 - Feature
Verdict: 5 Second 1 LP
Reason: Pit lane infringement cuts out of pit lane very late which isn’t aloud.
SLR CHARLIE1 vs II Monkey II Lap 1 - Feature
Verdict: No further action
Reason: UKBeastAssassin goes for a gap that isn’t really there on SLR Darnell into Turn 2. This then causes cars behind to bunch up mainly from Monkey having to slow for the incident in front which causes SLR CHARLIE1 to be pinched on his outside which we can see from a clip provided. This then causes a pile up of many cars. We as stewards feel this’ll have to go down as a lap 1 incident.
OwenHowell36 vs N1GHTRANG3R 95 Lap 5 - Feature
Verdict: 5 second 1 LP to N1GHTRANG3R 95
Reason: N1GHTRANG3R leaves good initial room going into the corner but then rebounds off the wall giving OwenHowell36 Minor Wing Damage.
OwenHowell36 vs SLR Marsh Lap 15 - Feature
Verdict: No Further Action
Reason: OwenHowell keeps his front wing in alongside SLR Marsh who has damage so was always going to turn tighter. We don’t feel OwenHowell36 loses enough time time to warrant SLR Marsh getting a penalty. Warning to SLR Marsh always leave sufficient car width space.
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