Imola

SLR moves from Northern Italy to the Central Regions for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the famous Imola circuit as we draw near to the end of the European leg of the season

Arriving in Imola, it was championship leader Midzy15 securing pole position with a 1:14.035, edging Klutzywinter by a slim 0.011, with Raceroller22 2tenths further back in P3

Midzy15 would get the cleaner start on the dirty side of the grid and manage to pull a fair gap on the rundown to turn 1,and this allowed Raceroller22 to slot his red bull up the inside of the slow Starting McLaren, with the rest of the field being relatively stable

SLR Dylan and JitoDV would both go off on two separate incidents at T1 on the second lap, as the grid began to settle and manage their races. NRX Crowding would have his incident off the final corner as the aggressive, yet inviting kerbs, would really start taking hold on this race

NRX Stenner seemed to have trouble getting his McLaren gripped to the track, and slowing the car down in sector 2, inviting pressure from Riggs, SLR Niki and SLR Cech, all looking to make their ways up the field, and all began to battle and pressurise the McLaren

The top 3 began to breakaway from the rest of the grid as Midzy15, Raceroller22 and Klutzywinter, all looked equal on pace and keeping each other honest. This would change on Lap 9 after Midzy15 made an uncharacteristic error at Turn 5, and again At Turn 6, leading to two separate spins, and relinquishing his lead in the process

Lap 10 would see Klutzywinter pit early to instigate the undercut on Raceroller22, but the following lap would see the McLaren of NRX Stenner lose control of the car and into retirement off the exit of turn 3, bringing out the safety car and the race under caution

Raceroller would then get the grid underway once again on lap 14 with the front looking feisty as they all looked to find some gaps and wiggle their way forward, but it was a brilliant start by the red bull as the gap was already hovering over 1second over NRX Astro, who gained under the caution

Klutzywinter would then get his chance on lap 16 to get past the Williams into turn 2, and gave himself the clean air to pursue Raceroller who was 1.5s up the road, as track limit penalties would then play their part and become a more prominent factor in this intense race

Riggs would the see himself slipping off the back of the leading train and from SLR Cech, which would invite the pressure fr Ghost Colt and UKBeastAssassin, who had to alter their strategies following the safety car, and put themselves on softs

Ghost Colt fancied his chances up the inside of Turn 1 on the Alpine, but with robust defending and great respect at high speeds, the positions remained as is as the pressure in the midfield would amplify

SLR Cech would make a mistake through turn 4, which allowed for Riggs to close the gap again, and with Cech defending the inside through turn 6, forcing the Alpine round the outside, and making the move stick. A few corners later would see Ghost Colt make a mistake at the top of the hill and lose positions, and led to a second stop, as the soft runners couldn't really cement any real progress on the medium runners

The battle at the front was between 5 drivers as they formed their own train at the top, with the McLaren leading the first train and the Alpine of Riggs leading the second train from P6 down to P10

UKBeastAssassin found some second wind on his soft tyres as he made his way past Midzy15 and SLR Cech, and with a yo-yo effect going on for the Haas driver in this train for the best part of 10laps, he was now able to begin making some progress

Lap 25 would see the Haas make his move on the Alpine for P6 round the outside of Turn 6, but both would lose out in their own battle, allowing Midzy15 to sneak up the inside and take both drivers

Part two would strike just the following lap, at the exact same corner, with the Haas looking up the inside this time around, both would make further contact, and with the Haas losing it on traction, would collect the Aston Martin of ZyDRAD, and eventually claim the Alpine of Riggs as all three would end up losing car parts and position, leading to pit lane repairs and retirements

The battle for the lead continued to brew over the leading 5 drivers, but while klutzywinter would take the chequered flag on track, it would be the Red Bull of Raceroller to claim back to back wins, with SLR Niki claiming P2 after starting P8, and with the McLaren of Klutzywinter being able to claim the final step on the podium following a late penalty for NRX Astro

Qualifying

Pole Lap: 01.14.035

1. Midzy15

2. KlutzyWinter380

3. raceroller22

4. NRX Astro

5. SLR Dylan

6. II Division II

7. NRX Stenner

8. SLR Niki

9. SLR Cech

10. R1ggs8

11. SLR Ham19

12. gh03t COLT

13. ZyDRAD

14. ArbOn EPA

15. UKBeastAssassin

16. II Monkeyy II

17. Jito DV

18. NRX Crowding

Race

Fastest Lap: 01.15.486 UKBeastAssassin

1. raceroller22

2. SLR Niki

3. KlutzyWinter830

4. NRX Astro

5. II Division II

6. II Monkeyy II

7. Midzy15

8. SLR Cech

9. gho3t COLT

10. NRX Crowding

11. R1ggs8 +5 sec

12. UKBeastAssassin +5 sec

13. Arbon EPA (DNF)

14. ZyDRAD (DNF)

15. Jito DV (DNF)

16. NRX Stenner (DNF)

17. SLR Ham19 (DNF)

18. SLR Dylan (DNF)

Arb0n EPA vs Jito DV

Verdict: racing incident

Reason:jito has a lot of overspeed on Arbon and tries a move around the outside. Arbon slightly closes the door on him which forces jito to take the grass, slightly losing control of his car and hitting Arbon. We don’t feel jito intentionally drives back onto the track and the reason he’s off the track in the first place is because he had nowhere to go when overtaking Arbon. Therefore we feel no penalty should be awarded and it’s just an unfortunate incident that’s left Arbon with Damage.

Crowding vs midzy

Decision:racing incident

Reason:in the tight third sector chicane midzy leaves crowding just about enough room to make the corner (the racing line requires you to take a lot of kerb and crowding still had room to take a lot of kerb with a wheel or two still on the track). They then make a slight bit of contact which unfortunately spins crowding.

SLR Dylan alleged intentional crash

Decision: no further action

Reason: Dylan loses it in sector 1 and is skidding towards the barrier, his car going sideways. He applies full throttle and then a second later hits the wall and retires. However, Dylan applying full throttle doesn’t affect the speed he hits the wall and doesn’t really change the outcome of the crash, so we are giving Dylan the benefit of the doubt that his action was him trying to avoid hitting the barrier, rather than to make sure he retired. Therefore no action will be taken against dylan for this crash. We also feel that the additional clip is just a poorly timed joke by Dylan referencing his crash. 

Beast vs Riggs lap 25

Verdict: 5s+1LP to R1ggs8

Reason: beast is fully alongside and Riggs runs him out of road, causing beast to lose time and a further position to midzy.

ZyDRAD vs UKBeastAssassin/R1ggs8

Verdict: warning to both UKBeastAssassin and R1ggs8

Reason: Beast goes for a bit of a lunge on Riggs into the hairpin. As he’s going for this,Riggs turns in which leads to them making contact. It is tough to judge, even from the extensive footage we’ve been provided, whether beast would have made the move without making contact and forcing Riggs wide even if Riggs didn’t turn in. Therefore. we feel that this makes them both partially at fault for the initial collision. This then leads to Riggs running wide and beast losing it on exit, unfortunately effectively ending beast’s, riggs’s and the innocent ZyDRAD’s races. A warning has been issued to both beast and Riggs as we feel it is clumsy driving from the pair of them that has clearly been influenced their incident in the previous lap (see the above incident).

Monkeyy vs beast

Verdict: 5s+1LP to UKBeastAssassin

Reason: going into turn 1 beast drifts into monkeyy, causing them to make contact and forcing monkeyy off the road

SLR Ham19 vs ZyDRAD

Verdict: 5s+1LP to ZyDRAD

Reason: ham is going slowly into aqua minerale due to battling ghost colt but ZyDRAD carries too much speed into the corner causing him to lose control of his car as he slightly hits ham. This loss of control continues into the following corner resulting in zy making further contact with ham and forcing him off, losing him time and possibly giving him damage. Therefore a penalty has been given to ZyDRAD for this collision. 

Division 1

Qualifying was a close affair with multiple drivers in contention with pole position. Two of these were last week’s pole sitter SLR Semm and last week’s race winner SLR Connor, however both crashed in q1, being forced to start from the back row. Who would get pole then? That answer was still up for debate in the dying stages of q3 with the Aston Martin of Bennett, both Ferraris and reserve driver Shutmedal looking quick. In the end it was the Ferrari of elite x riskz on pole followed by shutmedal and Bennett.

The race:

Into turn 1 Bennett had a storming start, getting past both the drivers who were on the front row. However the 3 made contact and shutmedal and elite dropped to the back of the field! This wasn’t the only turn 1 incident as there was chaos in the midfield, allowing the likes of semm and Connor to gain massively at the start. Another big gainer was Owen who was up into the top 6 before crashing on lap 5! Semm also would lose it on lap 5, bringing out a safety car! Most of the field pitted, with Connor and VR46 being noticeable exceptions, both moving up into podium places. Bennett and Morgan chased them on the hards and after VR pitted Bennett, Morgan and Connor were the drivers in the top 3, looking fairly comfortable (although Connor had to make a pit stop at some point with the others not having to do so)

Connor needed a late safety car and he got one, with most of the field switching to a set of softs although rain was imminent. The top 4 after this late safety car were Bennett in p1, Morgan in p2 and Connor in p3. This rain came on lap 30 of 32 and so the last lap was treacherous for all of the slick runners.

In one final twist, Connor lost the car with just 2 corners remaining from p3! Bennett also nearly lost p1 to Morgan but just hung on, winning by 0.1 seconds for his first victory since Belgium season 5! Elite would claim p3 after pens. Roll on Portugal next week, another new track.

Qualifying

Pole Lap: 01.14.523

1. ShutMedal

2. Elite x Riskz

3. SLR Bennett628

4. SLR Allen

5. VapidCoot

6. legendarydannyd

7. Ellis 37

8. MasonGammon05

9. SLR Morgan

10. LP Smoke

11. OwenHowell

12. SotierClock110

13. SLR Liamm

14. BadOtterTV

15. ARL PReDaToRZz

16. IVR46I

17. Adrian VIII

18. SF1 Moley

19. SLR Semm

20. SLR Connor

Race

Fastest Lap: 01.16.593

1. SLR Bennett628

2. SLR Morgan

3. Elite x Riskz

4. IVR46I

5. ARL PReDaToRZz

6. VapidCoot74

7. SotierClock110

8. SLR Liamm

9. SLR Connor

10. Adrian VII

11. legendarydannyd

12. BadOtterTV

13. LP Smoke

14. ShutMedal

15. SLR Allen (DNF)

16. Ellis37 (DNF)

17. SF1 Moley (DNF)

18. MasonGammon05 (DNF)

19. SLR Semm (DNF)

20. OwenHowell36 (DNF)

SLR Liamm Vs VapidCoot74 Vs ShutMedal (Lap 25)

Outcome: Racing incident

Reason: Us stewards agreed we don't think Vapid really does anything wrong. As Liam is getting closer to Vapid to overtake, he should overtake on Vapid's right and it likely would of been a simple move instead of trying to the left where there was no room. Vapid has the right to defend the inside going into turn 1. Going 2 wide through turn 1 is almost impossible without there being some form of collision or a car driving on the curbs. This happens to Liam and he drastically slows down and although he was spun by Shut from behind, he would of had to have very quick reactions to not go into the back of Liam. This incident was no one's fault in particular.

l VR46 l V ShutMedal - brake check ( Lap 25)

Outcome: 3LP to Shut

Reason: Coming off the exit of turn 13, VR is turns on his ERS and is attempting an overtake on Shut. For some reason Shut suddenly slows down drastically and gives VR wing damage. This was not lag or anything else.

Division 2

In Division 2 this week we had a wet race so the options for the drivers were potentially use a dry setup for qualifying and try have a good starting place or use a wet setup to help in the race. However Q1 was the only dry session for the drivers. Saw a few struggle to put laps down with Imola providing not much run off.

Skipping straight ahead to Q3 saw the full wets used for the initial laps but the times got quicker at the end with drivers switching to the intermediates as pole position changed hands multiple times throughout Q3 but it was ARL Tooman taking pole from Masseyf1. Scar B0rga with his best qualifying in P3 on the grid alongside championship leader going into this race Zachisbeast.

To the race then full wets on. Lots of bumping going into to turn 1 on this narrow track saw Masseyf1 drop down to P8 meanwhile SLR Jack making it up into 3rd. Virtual safety made an appearance halfway through the opening lap. Not to much happened between our first virtual safety car to our second on lap 4.

Tooman continued to build a lead out front setting fastest after fastest lap. Laps ticked by without to much action with the conditions and small tight track proving difficult to overtake. Safety car made an appearance on lap 10 closing up the video only the guys with a bit of damage came in to pit.

GoldenEggFryer lost it on the last corner and we saw our second safety car. This time round race leader ARL Tooman chose to pit and fit the intermediate tyres. Well the rest of the field stayed out which was a huge risk. DRT Andrew and OG James 96 also opted to try the intermediates. It was still very wet though.

So now Scar b0rga would lead the field away with half the race completed. With the field compact a few moves were made without any success. The intermediate runners were struggling and it was only Tooman still on those.

A few retirements would happen towards the end of the race. A safety car was out again and only went back in with 3 laps left to run. However as we saw throughout the race no moves could be made.

So it was Scar b0rga taking the win with a great clean drive congratulations to him. After stewards penalties are applied SLR Jack who crossed the line 2nd drops to P4 promoting Zachisbeast to 2nd and SLR Charlie to 3rd. Masseyf1 5th. Reserve driver SSR Halo 6th, AWRL Kevin 7th, DRT Andrew 8th. GoldenEggFryer 9th and ARL Tooman rounding off the points scoring.

Qualifying

Pole Lap: 01.22.770

1. ARL Tooman

2. MasseyF1

3. Scar BOrga

4. ZachIsbeast25

5. SLR Jack

6. SLR Barlow

7. AWRL Kevin

8. SLR CHARLIE1

9. GoldenEggFryer

10. J Lee Menz

11. Alpeh

12. SLR Leah

13. DRT Andrew

14. OG James 96

15. SSR Halo

16. SLR Dosser

17. SLR Hyperz

Race

Fastest Lap: 01.26.689 AWRL Kevin

1. Scar BOrga

2. SLR Jack

3. ZachIsBeast25

4. SLR CHARLIE1

5. Massey1

6. SSR Halo

7. AWRL Kevin

8. DRT Andrew +5 sec

9. GoldenEggFryer

10. ARL Tooman

11. SLR Barlow

12. SLR Hyperz (DNF)

13. SLR Dosser (DNF)

14. SLR Leah (DNF)

15.OG James 96 (DNF)

16. Alpeh (DNF)

17. J Lee Menz (DNF)

Incident - original vs dosser

Outcome - 10 Seconds and 2LP to dosser

Reason - dosser rejoins the track in a dangerous manner causing original to have to take avoiding action to not hit him.

Incident - Leah vs Hyperz

Outcome - 7LP to hyperz

Reason - Hyperz clearly crashes on purpose, we have given more license points and no time penalty and he got terminal damage.

Incident - Barlow vs Jack

Outcome - Racing Incident

Reason - Barlow tries a move in full wet conditions at a corner that at the best of times is almost impossible to overtake at, adding to this he straightens up before the corner slightly and as we have giving racing incidents in the past for similar reasoning we have to be consistent.

Incident - Zach vs Jack

Outcome - 3 seconds time penalty to Jack

Reason - Jack track extends and gains an advantage at turn 12 on at least 4 occasions and the game decides not to give him a warning for any, we aren’t giving any license points as it’s not needed for this sort of incident.

Incident - tooman vs Andrew

Outcome - 5 Seconds and 1LP to Andrew

Reason - Andrew fails to leave tooman enough space which causes tooman to spin, we have reduced the penalty slightly due to the conditions being so difficult.

Division 3

Qualifying

1. Chickn Rosery

2. Geregers UK

3. BcfcJosh1232752

4. SLR Xhaka

5. Rydel06

6. Vision2614

7. EAAidsDan

8. ICxmznI

9. Wolfshamen

10. RF1 Warhead

11. xxxx Rosco xxxx

12. I21I Maxwell

13. RNG SWFCfan

14. RWSRL Latifi

15. SLR Russell

Race

Fastest Lap: 01.18.273

1. ChicknRosery

2. Vision2614

3. RNG SWFCfan +10 sec

4. I Cxmzn I

5. RWSRL Latifi

6. EAAidsDan

7. RF1 Warhead

8. SLR Russell

9. I 21 I Maxwell

10. SLR Xhaka

11. wolfshamen26

12. Rydel06 (DNF)

13. BcfcJosh1232752 (DNF)

14. Gregers UK (DNF)

15. xxxx Rosco xxxx (DNF)

EaAidsDan53 vs Wolfshamen26 - Qualifying block.

Wolfshamen26 is on the racing line blocking EaAidsDan53 going into turn 1. However he has left the league so the stewards can’t do anything about it.

I Maxwell I 21 vs GeeHarry05 - Lap 11

GeeHarry05 tries to overtake Maxwell into turn 6. However he doesn’t leave enough room and spins Maxwell round. The stewards believe this is his fault and award him with 10s and 2 LP

RWSRL Latifi vs SLR Russell- Lap 14

RWSRL Latifi tries to overtake SLR Russell into turn 1 but this doesn’t work. However this is not SLR Russulls fault. NFA.

RNG SWFCfan doesn’t leave enough space in turn 6 causing Maxwell to spin. The stewards believe this is fully RNG SWFCfan’s fault. Therefore he has been awarded with a 10-second time penalty and 2 LP.

I Maxwell I 21 vs Wolfshamen26 - Lap 21 / Lap 22

Wolfshamen26 doesn’t yield for the blue flags. The stewards would give a pen for this. But since he has left the league the stewards can’t do anything about it.

Joshhewitt321 - Unsafe Rejoin.

Joshhewitt321 rejoins the track unsafely without looking out for other drivers. The stewards award him with 10 seconds of time penalty and 3LP.

I Maxwell I 21 vs Vision2614 - Lap 29.

NFA. Maxwell knows he’s gonna lose the position, but still puts up a hard fight leading into damage but the stewards do not believe it’s neither drivers fault.

I Maxwell I vs Xhaka - Lap 30

It’s an really unfortunate incident where the stewards believe it’s neither drivers fault. Therefore it’s a race incident.

Rydel06 potential excessive use of AI.

A clip has been submitted but from the evidence the excessive use isn’t clear. Therefore the stewards won’t award a pen to Rydel06. However the stewards want to make sure that drivers don’t drive in AI mode for too long.

EaAidsDan53 vs Rydel06. - Safety car incident.

EaAidsDan53 accelerates out of the uphill right-hander nearly full throttle, and misjudging Rydel06’s speed. Therefore the stewards won’t hand out a penalty.