McKeon
Round 13 of the SLR McKeon championship is at the Shanghai International Circuit, China. A challenging track with almost every corner of the track able to spit you out and ruin your entire race, that tied with heavy tyre wear during the race, makes this one of the biggest challenges these drivers face throughout this long season. With WTurn3r’s gap at the top of the driver's championship decreased significantly last time, will he be able to regain some of the ground lost, or will the gap tumble down once more?
For qualifying, again it was dry making it a somewhat straightforward session for all, ended with one of the favourites before hand going on and win the race BMidzy taking the pole position by a comfortable gap of 0.233 seconds! Definitely, a track that the Red Bull driver is very quick at, maybe even one of his best. It’ll be interesting to watch to see if anyone would be able to beat BMidzy in the race but he does look very comfortable. Second place in qualifying was WTurn3r. A strong qualifying from the championship leader, and definitely puts him in the best spot possible to try and claw back the lead he had, and in the race, he’ll be hoping to kick on and try and gain as many points as he can. Rounding off the top 3 in Qualifying was TV8 Ogween77, not the man Turner would have liked to see behind him, but nonetheless a good qualifying from the Alfa Romeo driver, who in recent races has begun to show his strengths and has begun to take these results more consistently and has helped him make a charge to bid on getting his 2nd McKeon championship and back to back. One notable mention is MeRkz47, getting 5th here is an impressive feat and definitely improvements on some of his starting positions at the beginning of the season, and has really found some form and started taking some points and now qualifying very strongly.
The race was a new challenge, finally, a race without a Safety Car making the drivers have to think on their feet with their tyres and choosing the strategy while constantly trying to go faster is never ever easy, but after all 28 laps of racing it would be BMidzy who would take the race win for his first win of the season! A commanding driver from the previous champion here in McKeon after gapping WTurn3r from the early laps, he really had everything covered from there and finally, he can enjoy getting another win. Second place was WTurn3r, considering the pace Midzy showed over quali and the race, will surely take P2 after a relatively boring race for himself and be able to gain more ground in his lead of the championship and with the races dwindling down, I’m sure he is beginning to hope more and more he can keep finding results to keep himself at the top. Rounding off the top 3 was TV8 Ogween, who did his best to limit the damage at a track he thought he isn’t as strong at compared to the top 2, only losing 3 points to Turner this round will surely be a relief to Ogween hoping to get back to back championships. Other notable drives would be SLR Ham19 who after qualifying in P15, took home P8 is a good feat from the Williams Driver around a track which is tricky to overtake especially if stuck in a DRS Train.
A race and qualifying which was contested heavily throughout, many battles which made for great entertainment and it is a shame that next game it will be unlikely that China will be in the next game cycle. Next time out it will be Suzuka, a completely different challenge to China, a track full of fast twists of turns and any wrong input and loss of traction could cause an incident for any driver and with track limit penalties very easy to get it will be a true show of skill from all the drivers to get it right, until then though hope everyone has a great week!
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 1:31.429 BMidzy
1. BMidzy
2. WTurn3r
3. TV8 Ogween77
4. SLR Medal2533
5. MeRkz47
6. SLR CHARLIE1
7. SLR EVVO
8. VRA Andres
9. SimbarocksONE
10. raceroller22
11. Riggsey x
12. SLR Jam40
13. FRA Arch
14. SemmF1
15. SLR Ham19
16. PaRa Quickz
17. SparksYT15
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:33.820 raceroller22
1. BMidzy
2. WTurn3r
3. TV8 Ogween77
4. VRA Andres
5. MeRkz47
6. Riggsey x
7. SLR Medal2533
8. SLR Ham19
9. SimbarocksONE
10. SLR CHARLIE1
11. SLR Jam40
12. SLR EVVO
13. raceroller22
14. SparksYT15
15. PaRa Quickz
16. SemmF1 (DNF)
17. FRA Arch (DNF)
Division 2
After a 3 season hiatus SLR made its return to the Shanghai International Circuit for round 13 of the division 2 championship and the Chinese Grand Prix. J Lee Menz heads into the weekend with a 70 point lead over his closest championship challenger LSW L3G3ND44.
Qualifying was a very close run thing yet again with the gap between pole and second place being 0.059. Kemence61 proved why he is the current form driver in Division 2 by taking pole position and FRL Kirito lined up alongside him in P2.
With no threat of rain, surprisingly, the 5 red lights go out and things get underway. Kirito was able to take full advantage of his extra traction off the line and comfortably take the lead into turn 1 ahead of Kemence. For the most part the first sector was kept clean unfortunately for THATGUY691244 he ended up being spun around on the exit of turn 6.
On the run into turn 11 LSW L3G3ND takes a trip to the grass and tumbles down the order, a moment that could prove key in the championship battle. On the first pass everyone made it through the hairpin of turn 14 nice and clean. But by the end of lap 2 lady luck seemed to be on L3G3NDs side as J Lee Menz is forced to pit for a front wing change which relegates him to the back.
As we hit lap 5 the top three of Kirito, Kemence and Scar B0rga have managed to build themselves a 2.4 second gap over VapidCoot74 in P4. The field has begun to split into a couple of DRS trains with the largest of those being stuck behind SLR Moley who is out of position and causing a good old blockage. On lap 6 Active JMC shows he is fed up of being behind the slower Haas driver and sends one up the inside into the hairpin of turn 14. Not just on Moley but Kislekso at the same time. It was a relatively clean overtake, for once, although very little space was left for the Haas driver on exit but still a very impressive double overtake.
As we head onto the start of lap 10 Scar B0rga pits from P3. Scar changes to the hard compound so setting himself to take those for 18 laps. The field has split into two clear groups, the top 5 and then the rest. The rest have dropped off somewhat because of some really strong battling which may look great but has hindered them in terms of the long term race, unless of course there is a safety car. As we ended lap 10 none of the other medium runners at the front reacted to Scar's early pit stop.
After things seem to calm down for a few laps with everyone focusing on tyre management. The race leader Kirito dove into the pits at the end of lap 13, Kemence saw this as his chance to stay out for one extra lap and attempt the overcut. As Kirito exited the pits it was right into the path of Scar B0rga who had to adjust his line to avoid the McLaren that had just left the pit lane. The drivers go side by side through turns 1 and 2 but there is contact on the exit of 2 which results in Kirito being spun around! On those cold tyres and the inside line it seems as he just under steered into the Williams on the outside. But of course more importantly this was catastrophic for Kirito's chances of a race win.
The safety car is out! OwenHowell36 ended up in the barrier after the exit of turn 10 and at the same time our race leader Kemence was just entering the pit lane a moment of sheer luck. He was able to get out in P2 comfortably. VapidCoot who was in P2 was unable to take advantage of a free pit stop as he had already passed the pit entry. To make things potentially even worse the safety car was awaiting him in turn 1. The Haas driver now had to spend a lap worrying about how much he could lose.
After pitting VapidCoot rejoined the race in P6, so ended up losing 4 positions. So the order after all the pit stops left us with Scar B0rga leading out of nowhere. Scar B0rga disconnected during the safety car and for some reason unknown to us his ghost decided to just drive on through Kemence to take P1. So Kemence is P2 with some work to do, legendarydannyd finds himself in P3 and probably is the driver that gained the most from this safety car. Active JMC holds P4 and LSW L3G3N44 is in P5. Something that seemed impossible back at the start of the race after going off track.
The race gets back underway on lap 18 leaving us with 10 laps of racing to the chequered flag. There is a real mixture of drivers on the hard and medium compounds for the restart. Scar himself is out in the lead but on 8 lap old hard tyres. Kemence seemingly takes advantage of the tyre difference instantly down into Turn 14. But he goes too deep which just allows Scar B0rga to easily retake the lead.
Scar is not ahead for long though as Kemence manages to pass him down the inside into turn 1 on lap 19. Lap 19 turned into a bit of a nightmare for Scar. On the run down to turn 6 legendarydannyd simply breezes past. Next up is Active JMC who gets a good run out of turn 6 and attempts to go side by side with Scar through the twists and turns of 7,8 and 9. But there is contact between the two on the entry of turn 7 which sees both drivers end up in the grass and at the very back of this race.
Lap 19 is very quickly turning into the spin central. Just before the contact with JMC and Scar. ZachisBeast had an off that dropped him multiple positions and then on the exit of turn 12 TCP Coutinho is a little too aggressive with the power and spins out. With all of this happening SLR Mash manages to avoid the stricken cars and jumps from P10 to P5 in half a lap.
VapidCoot retakes second place from dannyd with a simple overtake through the DRS zone on the back straight. Leaving himself a gap that is just over a second to Kemence in P1. Leaving us a battle to the end for the race win between Kemence on 7 lap old mediums and VapidCoot on 6 lap old mediums.
Coot does not wait around and like the previous lap is able to glide past Kemence on the approach to turn 14. However Coot went slightly deep and it almost opened the door for Kemence to retake the lead. But he just couldn’t get the traction out of the corner.
Lap 26 and it is just a two horse race for the win as dannyd has dropped slightly off the other two while having to defend hard from the three drivers behind in LSW L3G3ND, SLR Mash and FRL Kirito. Kirito performed a brilliant overtake on Mash down into turn 6 catching the Mercedes driver completely unaware. But half a lap later on the rundown to turn 14 there is some very questionable defending from Kirito which I am sure the stewards will be looking into post race.
With the final lap Kemence has closed the gap to a matter of tenths on VapidCoot but with very little battery left. Leaving himself one opportunity down the back straight to attempt a overtake with DRS. As the leaders enter the DRS zone Kemence is just under 6 tenths back from Coot. A gap that proves to be ever so slightly too big. Just behind though the gap between dannyd and L3G3ND is not too big as L3G3ND tries to send it down the inside. But just doesn’t have enough traction on the exit of turn 14.
All of this meant that VapidCoot crossed the line and took the win of the Chinese Grand Prix. Kemence came home in second place and legendarydannyd was able to hold off LSW L3G3ND for P3.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.32.667
1. Kemence61
2. FRL Kirito
3. VapidCoot74
4. ScarBOrga
5. LSW L3G3ND44
6. J Lee Menz
7. TCP Coutinho 10
8. ZachIsBeast25
9. SLR Mash
10. OwenHowell36
11. Active JMC
12. THATGUY691244
13. Kislesko
14. dRaSt1k bLazE
15. SLR Moley
16. legendarydannyd
17. SotierClock110
18. SLR Leah
19. Adrian VIII
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.34.277 Adrian VII
1. VapidCoot74
2. Kemence61
3. LSW L3G3ND44
4. legendarydannyd +5 sec
5. J Lee Menz
6. FRL Kirito +5 sec
7. SLR Mash
8. SotierClock110
9. Kislesko
10. SLR Moley
11. ZachIsBeast25
12. dRaSy1k bLazE
13. Active JMC +5 sec
14. THATGUY691244
15. Scar BOrga
16. Adrian VII
17. SLR Leah
18. TCP Coutinho 10
19. OwenHowell36 (DNF)
Incident involving FRL Kirito and Scar B0rga - lap 14, pit exit & turn 1:
No further action - a number of factors including the game physics with regards to kerbs, cold tyres and understeer result in this collision which sees neither driver directly at fault. Any subsequent incidents have also been caused by this and therefore would be deemed NFA also.
Incident involving Scar B0rga and Active JMC- lap 19, turn 7:
5 second penalty and 1 Licence Point to Active JMC for spinning another car - JMC brakes late and goes deep, under steering or just carrying too much speed into the side of Scar spinning both cars.
Incident involving SotierClock110 and legendarydannyd - lap 2, turn 11:
5 second penalty and 1 Licence Point to Danny for spinning another car - Clock slows slightly to avoid the incident ahead and a lack of awareness/slow reaction from Danny results in Clock being spun through no fault of his own.
Incident involving FRL Kirito and SLR Marsh - lap 26, Back Straight:
5 second penalty and 1 Licence Point to Kirito for a dangerous manoeuvre heading into a braking zone - Kirito moves in response to Marsh which is not allowed and could have been extremely dangerous to both cars, the only reason a harsher penalty has not been awarded here is due to neither driver receiving damage from the incident. Warning to FRL Kirito with regards to this incident - another incident of a similar nature will result in a bigger penalty.
Incident involving FRL Kirito and SLR Marsh - lap 18, Back Straight:
No further action - there’s not enough evidence to prove that anything here was done intentionally or with malice, in addition to this no incident was caused.
Incident involving FRL Kirito and SLR Marsh - lap 26, turn 4:
No further action - it’s a late move from Kirito but the door has been left open and it’s a hard but fair overtake any contact made is minor and doesn’t influence Kirito being able to get past Marsh.
Incident involving LSW L3G3ND44 and TCP Coutinho 10 - qualifying, turn 2:
2 Licence Points to Coutinho for an obvious block.
Division 3
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.32.988
1. TIR Haze
2. Lenbau04
3. BigBag92
4. QRT Tyler
5. c0w3n
6. Fat Ted24
7. JPPGaming96
8. SSR Halo
9. EO31Echo
10. SLRRaikkonen
11. Mellow.
12. SmitHPDanX01
13. SLR Hicklin
14. COLDEN3335
15. richie chappell
16. Lofty I
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.35.146 SSR Halo
1. TIR Haze
2. QRT Tyler
3. Lenbau04
4. EO31Echo
5. richie chappell
6. BigBag92
7. c0w3n
8. SLR Hicklin +3 sec
9. SLRRaikkonen
10. SmitHPDanX01
11. SSR Halo
12. Mellow.
13. Lofty I
14. JPPGaming96 (DNF)
15. COLDEN3335 (DNF)
16. Fat Ted24 (DNF)
SLRRaikkonen vs SLR Hicklin Causing a collision- Lap 13
Outcome: 3 seconds +1LP to SLR Hicklin
The stewards feel that Hicklin does spin Raikkonen around and deserves a form of penalty for it. Still, we also feel as if Hicklin is braking with nothing in front of him, then Raikkonen goes to get a better exit and cuts across him mid braking phase making it difficult for Hicklin to avoid the collision hence the lessened penalty.
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