Round 3 of the championship sees the teams land in Europe in the Catalan region of Spain for the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. Qualifying was the closest we’ve seen it in a long time as rain was projected to swoop in late in Q3, meaning drivers in the shootout for pole position had to scramble out for track position and get a lap on the board before the rain would dampen hope. Midzy15 was able to secure pole position with a lap in slowly damping conditions, a 1:15.024 was enough for the pole, which was a mere 1 thousandth of a second quicker than the McLaren of Para Quicks, who set a 1:15.025. It would be SLR Dylan in P3 for Red Bull on a 1:15.069, and overall, the top 4 separated by 8 hundredths of a second, just underlining how competitive it is at the summit
The race start looked relatively clean and stable, and it was Raceroller22 gaining the jump on both Riggs and his teammate SLR Dylan, as he slotted into P3 by Turn 4, and PSR Freeman, standing in at McLaren, up 3 on the start, as the two big gainers off the start and on the rundown to the first corner. Brindyboi67 would have a troubled start due to disconnections and glitches hampering any real opportunity to have an impact on the race
The first caution would come out on lap 3 in the form of a VSC for the Ferrari of Coupe a Benz, who had a bobble through the quick, yet tight, 7-8 chicane and ended up into the wall, becoming the first retirement in Spain
The early laps would soon see a top 5 break away and form their own train as the midfield would slowly split, but it would be Lap 7 before we seen any battle for the lead, and it would be Para taking the chance to get past Midzy15 to lead this race, as the battle at the front was intensifying and the element of strategy and who was doing what in this train
In the battle of the midfield, it would be PSR Freeman making moves as he made way past Ghost Colt for P8 on Lap 8 and had a buffer in front to manage the gap and etch closer to UKBeastAssassin, who was just outside Bezzas’ DRS in P7. SLR Dylan would have a massive moment coming off the final chicane in the battle for the lead, and that seen him spin down to P9 and out of this fight, and the 5way battle became a 4way battle. During the yellow flag off the final corner, it would be V2 x Combat pitting at the same time, triggering an undercut and strategy was beginning to unfold
The top 4 refused to blink as the lap counter ticked on, and it would be Midzy15 leading the train at the front as the lead changed again, and as the top 4 raced on, the battle in the midfield took to the pitlane as gaps began to open up, the question was being asked, when do the top 4 pit?
Lap 16 would see a change for the lead as Para would make his way past Midzy15 once again, but it would see the top 4 become a top 3 as Riggs would lose it on the exit of Turn 2 and hit the wall on the outside, retiring his car immediately and out of the race.
Lap 20 would see the Williams pit from the front battle as the tyres felt they couldn’t do anymore, and in turn, triggers the domino effect. Midzy15 timed the strategy well as he managed to come out in front of the continuing Ragga Yute in P4. Raceroller22 came in 1 lap later and managed to just complete the overcut on the Williams, both onto the hards to the end. Para would pit at the end of lap 22 for the softs, and with supreme tyre management, was able to go onto the soft tyres at the end, and on exit, would see Para go side by side with Roller on the exit, and just manage to retain the lead on the exit of turn 4, and had clean air in front of him to run into the distance on a brand new set of the red compound tyre.
Penalties would soon become more consistent through track extensions and penalties, and this could influence the results come the end. The battle behind Bezzas for P4 was the bigger focus in the closing stages as the top 3 battle became diluted. Bezzas and UKBeastAssassin would trade places as the laps ticked past, and it would be PSR Freeman climbing up to this battle and SLR Dylan at the back of this battle as well, as it really became a 4way battle for P4.
With a decisive strategy and ability to withstand the early pressures, it would be Para Quicks to take the chequered flag in Spain, however, it would go from a certain P2, to a devastating DNF for Raceroller22 on the final 4 corners as his wheel failed and straightened his car into the wall and into retirement, gifting Midzy15 a P2 finish and PSR Freeman an unlikely podium after starting 15th on the grid
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.15.024
1. Midzy15
2. PaRa Quickz
3. SLR Dylan
4. R1ggs8
5. raceroller22
6. BrindyBoi67
7. bezzas1
8. UKBeastAssassin
9. Yologamer666one
10. Coue a Benz
11. JibJab325
12. gho3t COLT
13. VS x Combat
14. ArbOn EPA
15. PSR Freeman
16. Ragga Yute
17. SLR Niki
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.16.395 yologamer666one
1. Para Quickz
2. Midzy15
3. PSR Freeman
4. SLR Dylan
5. bezzas1
6. UKBeastAssassin
7. JibJab325
8. gho3t COLT
9. Arb0n EPA
10. V2 x Combat
11. Ragga Yute
12. yologamer666one
13. raceroller22 (DNF)
14. SLR Niki (DNF)
15. R1ggs8 (DNF)
16. BrindyBoi67 (RET)
17. Coupe a Benz (DNF)
Ragga vs brindy- quali incident
Outcome- 10s+2LP to brindy (converted to 3LP due to DNF)
Reason: ragga is on a fast (but invalid) lap and brindy is on a slow one ahead of him. Brindy tries to get out of the way but does it too late, moving to the left the same time as ragga. They both go into the same part of track as they’re trying to avoid a collision with each other and ragga spins out and crashes. Brindy takes the primary blame as he was the car ahead who was on the slow lap and should have never been in the way on the racing line in the first place but ragga could have done slightly more to avoid the incident being as large as it was, so the penalty isn’t a massively large one for brindy.
Qualifying was an interesting affair. The first question was what tyres people would start the race on. Last game it was really clear that the mediums were the best tyres to start on and most kept with that strategy, with elite x riskz the only exception in the top 10 starting on the softs.
Q3 was fascinating. LP smoke set the early pace with a very impressive banker lap of a 1:15.3, with badders and Bennett looking quick as well. Near the end of the session Bennett was on a stormer of a lap but sadly messed up the final sector. He would line up p3. Badders couldn’t improve on his banker lap and started p4. Little did they know that a surprise driver would beat both their times and even beat smoke’s initial banker lap. SLR Semm set a random fluke lap of a 1:15.2 that was about 3 tenths quicker than he managed in any practice qualifying to claim provisional pole. This would last for 7 seconds as smoke beat his lap. SLR Liamm also looked like he could get in the fight for pole but his wheel died on the final corner of his final lap. Again. When will he get some luck?
So the top 5 for the start of the race was smoke on pole, followed by Semm, Bennett, badders and SLR ranga, who put in a solid lap at the end of q3. Elite x riskz would start in p6 on the softs, certainly one to look out for at the start. Now that race start. Bennett had a better start than semm as semm no longer has OP pad traction starts. Further back elite and ranga both had a good start and got badders into turn 1, but they would come together causing ranga to have to retire. So on lap 1 it was an Aston Martin 1-2, with semm dropping back another couple of places. Elite was in p3 but was ready to continue his March on the soft tyres, making light work of Bennett and closing on on smoke. However this charge was halted as a safety car was deployed on lap 5. Over half the field took to the pits for a tyre change, but both Aston martins stayed out on their mediums along with klutzywinter, who got knocked out in q2 but had some great race pace. Elite was the first to pit, fitting the mediums and clearly going for a 2 stop, with the likes of Semm, vandoorne and clock going for the hards. They were hoping to stretch them to the end of the race. Another driver to go for the mediums was badotter, who found himself in a very handy position.
Chaos was about to ensue. Bennett and elite had a massive collision that would go to the stewards, wiping them both out of contention, and owenhowell would be caught up in this incident as well. End of lap 11 and smoke and klutzy were 1-2, with badotter running well on the fresh mediums in p3. These were followed a train headed by semm. In this train was vandoorne, Morgan, clock and DPT Paul (who started on the hards) On lap 12 disaster would happen to semm as him and vandoorne made contact, causing the Williams to spin out of contention for the lead. A few laps later semm would then spin at pit entry before doing a 100000 point turn and binning it again going into the pits. A sad end to a Spain race that was looking so good. These Positions would stay as they are until the final stages, where the top 3 (and Paul) would make their required pit stops leaving vandoorne, Morgan and clock looking set for a podium. However there would be one final bit of chaos. Morgan’s tyres had given up the ghost and he lost it, before having another off and crashing out of the race. This brought out a safety car. Everyone pitted under this SC except for DPT Paul, who stayed out on relatively fresh mediums. There would be just 1 lap of racing, with it looking like the top 3 would be vandoorne, smoke and Paul after in game pens. Klutzy was on for p4 but unfortunately crashed on the safety car restart and that was the race! A chaotic one with a result that we’ll all find out in the stewards report below, with race winner vandoorne under investigation for the incident with semm. Join us this week for what is never a dull race in league racing at Monaco.
-semm
Qualifying
Pole Time: 1:15.258
1. LP Smoke
2. SLR Semm
3. SLR Bennett3810
4. ETSR Badders
5. SLR ranga
6. ELiTE x RisKz
7. BadOtterTV
8. SLR Vandoorne
9. SLR Liamm
10. OwenHowell36
11. SLR Morgan
12. SotierClock110
13. SLR Allen
14. DPT Paul
15. KlutzyWinter830
16. Darren l 22
17. ETSR Jensen2508 (DNQ)
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:16.459
1. LP Smoke
2. DPT Paul
3. SotierClock110
4. BadOtterTV
5. SLR Vandoorne (+10s)
6. KlutzyWinter830
7. ELiTE x RisKz (+15s)
8. OwenHowell36
9. ETSR Jensen2508 (FL)
10. SLR Morgan (DNF)
11. SLR Semm (DNF)
12. Darren l 22 (RET)
13. SLR Bennett3810 (DNF)
14. ETSR Badders (DNF)
15. SLR Liamm (RET)
16. SLR Allen (DNF)
17. SLR ranga (RET)
SLR Semm Vs SLR Vandoorne - Spinning another car (lap 12)
Outcome: 10 secs + 2LP for Vandoorne
Reason: Being behind another car like Vandoorne was, you should always brake slightly earlier to avoid contact with the car ahead. In this instance Vandoorne brakes slightly too late, hits the back of Semm and therefore spins the Williams driver onto the grass.
OwenHowell36 Vs ELiTE x RisKz - Collision (lap 9)
Outcome: 15 secs + 3LP for Elite
Reason: Elite has lost his entire front wing due to an incident that has just happened before. Going through turn 3 he gets out the way of 3 drivers well however then completely understeers into Owen and sends Owen onto the gravel also giving Owen minor wing damage. We believe all Elite had to do was either go completely off track to let everyone through or at least apply no throttle and stay to the inside of turn 3 as much as he could.
Darren l 22 Vs SLR Liamm - Collision under VSC (lap 3)
Outcome: No action taken
Reason: Under the VSC both cars have a delta to stick to. Liam slowed down in plenty of time to stick to his delta (Liam's delta also could of been different to Darren's). We believe Darren had plenty of time to notice Liam was going slower than usual in front however doesn't react in time to what's happening Infront and therefore is a collision.
SLR Bennett Vs ELiTE x RisKz - collision (lap 9)
Outcome: No action taken
Reason: After reviewing both POVs and also the stream, it is Elite's POV that gives this away. Elite is trying to go up Bennett's inside and Bennett covers him off well. Whilst Elite maybe should of tried around the outside as space was becoming very limited, there was zero contact between the 2 drivers and unfortunately Bennett's car has lagged into Elite's and that's what has caused the collision. It is incredibly unlucky what happened to both drivers involved but we feel any penalties would be harsh seeing as this crash was purely down to a stupid lag spike which no one could help.
In division 2 this week in qualifying saw a few drivers fall victim to pushing it a bit to much to early but in Q2 the drivers in the top 10 made it through all of which got through on the medium compound apart from LSW L3G3ND who made it through on the softs.
In Q3 and SLR Barlow took his first pole in SLR with a great lap of 1.15.597 SLR debutant Ellis 37 would line up alongside and was just .138 back showing that he’s very competitive in div 2.
To the race then and the front few rows got a away well. J Lee Menz making the most positions in the opening couple of laps.
Lots of close racing here then after with DRS now in operation allowing guys to stay close and keep everyone honest.
A third of the way through race and SLR Teddy in the lead as we saw the first safety car make an appearance.
This meant the pit crews could get to work.
On the restart we would only get a couple of racing laps in when ARL Tooman unfortunately lost it meaning the safety car was required out on track again.
On the restart on the exit of turn two there was an incident and this caused two drivers in Ellis 37 and SLR Leah to retire from the race. No safety car this time though.
J Lee Menz was leading heading into the final 10 laps. As the rain made an appearance that was expected to come towards the end of the race so now it was trying to judge when to make the switch over to the intermediate tyre.
The track got wet very quickly J lee Menz and SLR teddy stayed out an extra lap well those behind chose to switch. This ended costing them. As ZachIsBeast would then take over the lead as they filtered back out on track. dRaSt1k bLazE also managed to get through an up to second and take advantage of going on to the wet tyres a lap earlier.
A 3rd safety car of the race meant we’d see a 4 lap sprint to the line ZachIsBeast took the win on track but a 3 second penalty would mean he would drop 3rd. So it was dRaSt1k bLazE who took the top step of the podium for his first win in SLR. Congratulations to him. J Lee Menz finishing 2nd just half a second behind. Zach 3rd.
reserve driver Scar b0rga with a great drive to finish P4 having started P19
Pole sitter SLR Barlow would pick up a good deal of points with a 5th place finish. SLR Jack and SLR Hicklin continue to put points on the board finishing P6 & P7.
SLR teddy P8 OG James P9 and GoldenEggFryer picking up the final point in his first race as a full time driver in the Williams.
Another race in the books then and off to the streets of Monaco
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.15.597
1. SLR Barlow
2. Ellis 37
3. SLR Jack
4. ARL Tooman
5. dRast1k bLazE
6. SLR Teddy
7. GoldenEggFryer
8. LSW L3g3nd44
9. SLR Lofty
10. J Lee Menz
11. ZH Azidz
12. OG James 96
13. skiman112
14. ZachIsBeast25
15. Alpeh
16. SLR Hicklin
17. SLR Leah
18. Scar BOrga
19. SLR Hyperz
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.18.439 J Lee Menz
1. dRaSt1k bLazE
2. J Lee Menz
3. ZachIsbeast25
4. Scar BOrga
5. SLR Barlow
6. SLR Jack
7. SLR Hicklin
8. SLR Teddy
9. OG James 96
10. GoldenEggFryer
11. LSW L3g3nd44
12. SLR Lofty +10 sec
13. SLR Hyperz (DNF)
14. SLR Leah (DNF)
15. Ellis37 (DNF)
16. ARL Tooman (DNF)
17. skiman112 (RET)
18. ZH Acidz (RET)
19. Alpeh (DNF)
Incident - legend vs Original
Outcome - racing incident
Reason - Original is sandwiched between two cars and has no chance of avoiding original.
Incident - Legend vs Hyperz - Lap 1
Outcome - 2LP to Hyperz
Reason - Hyperz has major wing damage so he has to be cautious when putting but brakes far too much which causes legend to hit him.
Incident - Legend vs Hyperz - Lap 2
Outcome - no further action
Reason - Hyperz does weave down the straight but this doesn’t affect Legend. When Legend goes for the overtake there is a cars width for him but he brakes a lot later than Hyperz which given Legend the wing damage.
Incident - B0rga vs Zachisbeast
Outcome - no further action
Reason - Zach was having wheel issues so he wasn’t in control of his car so we are not taking any action due to this.
Incident - B0rga vs Lofty
Outcome - 5 Seconds and 1LP to lofty.
Reason - Lofty overtakes under safety car and doesn’t get given a penalty by the game so we are giving him the penalty he should have received.
Incident - Ellis vs Lofty
Outcome - 5 Seconds and 1LP to lofty
Reason - lofty is close enough for the move but misjudged his braking which means that he hits Ellis and forces him wide.
.
Here we go then another race to bring you here in Spain after a slr Charlie win in china.
Qualifying went as follows in p1 was gregers uk with a very solid lap of 1:15.9 with slr Charlie completing the front row in p2 then xj geddes in p3 then p4 was phantom then p5 was skullkiller then p6 was sf1 moley p7 was maxwell p8 was slr colden p9 was kopkidjack and to finish the top ten in qualifying was slr j3st3r
Lap 1 as gregers leads the way! And xjgeddes gets a better start than slr Charlie and takes p2 coming into t1. There has already been 2 spins in this race coming from slr colden and slr nealix who have both spun off in the background and now sit p19 and 20. Slr Gareth has already made his way up to p8 from p13 and cosmic Cameron spins off as well. Xjgeddes spins coming onto to the start, finish straight which also causes slr Charlie to spin causing him to drop to p11. Lap 2 now slr j3st3r spins off dropping him to p17 and and the end of lap 2 it is a Ferrari 1-2 with gregers leading from skullkiller and Slr bunny spins end at the end of sector and coming down the back straight cosmic Cameron crashes out of the race which brings out a virtual safety car.
The virtual safety car restart comes quickly than expected for Scott laney and he now has a drive through penalty to serve for speeding under vsc. And kopkidjack overtakes skullkiller to go into p2 and slr st20h spins at t2 and baggiefan has a collision with the wall meaning he drops down from p5 to p11. P2 kopkidjack decides to pit on to the medium compound tyres along with slr Charlie having to pit because of front wing damage. Jack has another moment and drops 2 places to Slr bunny and slr j3st3r. Lap 6 and baggiefan crashes again causing him to have no front wing and pits for the 3rd time. Jack now takes a position off of slr bunny into p12. Lap 9 slr Gareth spins on t2 and phantom then collects into him leaving him with no wing and slr Gareth spins again and gets disqualified from the session for driving the wrong way. Safety car! Slr stevoo gets a drive through penalty which he will have to serve.
Lap 12 and slr stevoo leads the safety car restart and Phantom dives down the inside and spins and then crashes out of the race trying to rejoin the track. Skullkiller now has damage and drops to p15. Sf1 moley gets overtaken by slr Charlie as he moves up to p5 and now moley is under pressure from slr j3st3r. Now baggiefan has crashed making that the 4th Dnf of the race. Slr bunny is in the lead with gregers now overtaking him and slr Charlie also overtaking him so he drops to p3.
Now sf1 moley has overtaken maxwell and slr st2oh overtakes xjgeddes. Slr Charlie is all over the back of gregers but cannot get the move done but slr j3st3r overtakes maxwell and stevoo spins. Slr bunny spins from p3 and drops all the way to p13 and Scott laney now gets disqualified and kopkidjack crashes out of the race which brings out a full safety car. So gregers, Charlie, moley, j3st3r all pit for the softs or medium compound tyres and now try to make the end of the race.
Lap 23 xjgeddes leads the pack away and stevoo moves right into front of Charlie causing Charlie to slow down and moley is now down the inside of Charlie and there is contact and Charlie spins and drops to 13th place. Lap 24 and gregers now overtakes unrealsalmon into p2 and now hunts down xjgeddes. Slr sprightly now spins from p12 and drops to p13. Not even a full lap later sprightly now loses the car and crashes out of the race making that the 7th retired car of the race. Now gregers makes the move up into first place but he does have a 5 second penalty to his name. Slr j3st3r now makes his way up to p3 past unrealsalmon and takes that podium place. Into sector 3 and slr stevoo now crashes out of the race after having a brilliant start and is now the 8th retired car. And it brings out a final safety car!
Lap 29 and gregers gets us under way with the safety car restart and slr nealix loses it on the restart and drops to the back. Lap 30 and the race leader gregers spins and loses his entire front wing and looks to now not get any points. Now unrealsalmon takes the lead. Lap 31 now and slr j3st3r also spins out again causing himself damage and drop to p11 after being p6 and sf1 moley now takes the lead of this race after overtaking unrealsalmon down into turn 6. Onto the penultimate lap now. Skull killer now makes a move into p6 past xjgeddes and the final lap now and maxwell takes p2 from unrealsalmon after getting a poor exit from t3 and slr st2oh taps the back of unrealsalmon and spins from p4 dropping him to 10th. Now p5 skullkiller crashes into the wall in sector losing all of his hard work to try and complete a recovery race.
Sf1 moley WINS the Spanish Grand Prix with maxwell in 2nd and unrealsalmon in p3 Slr bunny in p4 xjgeddes in p5 and slr Charlie in p6, slr colden in p7 and slr nealix in p8, skullkiller in p9 and slr st2oh to finish the points positions.
Join us next week for the Monaco Grand Prix with more brilliant racing.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.15.914
1. Gregers UK
2. SLR Charlie1
3. x J Geddes x
4. Phantonm231226
5. Skullkiller1014
6. SF1 Moley
7. I21I Maxwell
8. SLR Colden
9. KopKidJack2005
10. SLR J3st3r
11. SLR Stevooo
12. SLR Nealix
13. SLR Gareth
14. UnrealSalmon590
15. SLR Spr1tley
16. SLR St2oH
17. SLR Bunny
18. Scott85Laney
19. Baggiefan 1995
20. I Cxmzn I
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.17.631 SLR J3st3r
1. SF1 Moley
2. I21I Maxwell
3. UnrealSalmon590
4. SLR Bunny
5. x J Geddes x
6. SLR Charlie1
7. SLR Colden
8. SLR Nealix
9. Skullkiller1014
10.SLR St2oH
11. Gregers UK
12. SLR J3st3r
13. SLR Stevooo (DNF)
14. SLR Spr1tley (DNF)
15. KopKidJack2005 (DNF)
16. Baggiefan 1995 (DNF)
17. Phantom231226 (DNF)
18. SLR Gareth (DNF)
19. I Cxmzn I (DNF)
20. Scott85Laney (DNF
SLR St2oh vs Phantom231226 - Lap 2 Going into turn 12 SLR St2oh goes slightly wide, causing Phantom231226 to put his nose up the inside. However with the room that was available, a move there was never on. As a result of that Phantom231226 squeezes SLR St2oh wide. Phantom231226 is awarded with a 3-second time penalty and 1 LP for this action. Taking into account that it is the opening laps of the Grand Prix.
SLR Charlie vs SF1 Moley - Lap 23 Going into turn 1 SLR Charlie and SF1 Moley go side by side. Considering that going side by side into turns 1 and 2 is really tight, plus taking into consideration that both drivers could’ve given each other more room, the stewards verdict is a racing incident.
SLR St2oh vs UnrealSalmon590 - Lap 33 SLR St2oh put his nose on the inside of UnrealSalmon590 into turn 4. SLR St2oh comes from really far behind. Therefore the stewards feel like the move was never on for St2oh, and so no penalty is given for this incident.
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