McKeon
Round 4 of the SLR McKeon championship is at Portimao, Portugal. A track that isn’t raced much in SLR, one that is very harsh on track limits, and with the elevation changes around the circuit it is certainly a fun one to drive, so let’s see how the drivers can deal with it.
Qualifying did have rain on the way but not early enough, so just the typical session for all of the drivers, with many making a few mistakes, but after all of the action it would be ELiTE x RisKz who would take his first pole position of the season! After recent results, this is a good qualifying session for the Aston Martin driver and one I’m sure will help the confidence and I’m sure he will give anyone around him a good battle for the win. Second, in the end, was SLR Corey, who so far has had impressive form with qualifying always seeming to take on the challenge of any of the tracks so far and doing it well only just missed out on pole position, but puts him in good stead to get another win this season. Rounding off the top 3 was NRX Finn, who has made himself known this season showing off some good pace so far and this 3rd could help him get another podium after fantastic results in recent races.
The race was certainly a battle of wits, with many trains in the race making it tough for the drivers to make any form of overtake, made for a tactical race throughout with the strategy being relatively unknown but after all the action it would be SLR Corey who would take the win! Another win for the Haas driver, really a statement we already knew, this guy is rapid, and it’s his first valid win since Bahrain (still annoyed at you Corey 😃). Second place was SLR Ham19, who always seems to find himself in good positions when it comes to the race, it is another good result for the Ferrari driver who seems to brewing up a title fight between Corey and himself and I’m sure it will be a good one to watch for the rest of the season. Rounding off the top 3 was ELiTE x RisKz who after starting on the front row I’m sure isn’t too happy overall about the result but it is decent for an Aston Martin driver, adding to his tally of podiums a quick driver with potential we could see him make inroads into the battle at the top of the driver's championship.
A race of tactics throughout the field ended in a repeat winner and now the title battle is beginning to form and some regular names are putting their names forward. Next week we head to the Principality, Monaco. I would say one of the hardest but it’s the biggest challenge the drivers will have to face all season, with the walls being close at all times it is the hardest track to master and with overtaking being impossible, qualifying will make or break your race if you're not careful. But until then, time to look forward to one of the most hectic races in SLR, and hope everyone has a great week!
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 1:15.720 ELiTE x RisKz
1 ELiTE x RisKz
2 SLR Corey
3 NRX Finn
4 raceroller22
5 SimbarocksONE
6 SLR Ham19
7 BMidzy
8 Snypz SB
9 Crispy2001
10 Riggsey x
11 SemmF1
12 SLR Medal2533
13 TMS SORA
14 BRT Griffiths
15 SparksYT15
16 ZyDRAD
17 SLR Jam40
18 Evoke Replay
19 Arb0n EPA
20 MeRkz47
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:17.772 BRT Griffiths
1 SLR Corey
2 SLR Ham19
3 ELiTE x RisKz
4 raceroller22
5 Snypz SB
6 SimbarocksONE
7 Riggsey x
8 BMidzy
9 SLR Jam40
10 NRX Finn
11 SLR Medal2533
12 SparksYT15
13 ZyDRAD
14 Arb0n EPA
15 TMS SORA
16 BRT Griffiths (DNF)
17 Evoke Replay (DNF)
18 Crispy2001 (DNF)
19 MeRkz47 (DNF)
20 SemmF1 (DNF)
Division 2
Bem-vindo ao Grande Prémio de Portugal SLR Divisão 2 em Portimão. Or for those not bothered to use Google Translate, Welcome to the SLR Division 2 Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao. Many drivers will be looking to gain some solidarity and consistency from themselves going out of the opening phase of the season and there’s no better place to try it than here in the Algarve region.
Qualifying
Speaking of consistency, dRaSt1k bLazE went back to back as he took his second pole in a row to really build steam towards a championship charge. Behind him though was an unfamiliar face so far this season in the Mercedes of Scar B0rga, who managed to put it second for his best start of the season. To round out the top 3 came UKBeastAssassin in the Haas. Star of qualifying goes to F1ABQW3RTYYY who after recent low grid starts slotted his car into 4th place. Maybe it’s the start of a bounce back for the Williams driver.
The Race
With the top 6 opting for the medium, we went to 5 red lights, QWERTY went from P4 to P3, Scar held P2 and Blaze P1 and there’s 0 chance of this joke carrying on.
What also wasn’t funny was VapidCoot being sent to the back after being caught up in an incident, wrecking any chance of qualifying meaning something for the Alpine. Big gainers from the start include ChicknRosery, from 17th all the way into the points at 10th.
At this point, going up to the pit stops, was a game of who can break from the DRS train starting to form with the top 4 but the frost retirement of the race was for ChicknRosery after his brilliant start, and Legend was quick to follow him in retirement.
Meanwhile Scar and Blaze had formed a great bit of teamwork as they managed to pull a gap that would amount to around 5 seconds to 3rd once Scar opted to pit onto the hards on lap 13, an interesting undercut given that the medium soft strategy was favoured.
Some lovely battling ensued between the train of QWERTY, Beast and Kirito for on track 2nd through 4th as Kirito was the first to go to the soft tyre in this pack.
Race leader Blaze would come in on lap 21 to fit the soft tyres but you’d imagine given the pace difference that it wouldn’t take long for him to overtake Scar and breeze his way out front.
How long did it take? Till lap 24 and that was the start of a what could be a painful stint for Scar with Beast, QWERTY and Kirito breathing down his neck.
Kirito took his chance into turn 1 on lap 30 and got into P2 and QWERTY would emulate the Ferrari into turn 4 sending the Mercedes down P4 although Scar trying to hope something would happened between the 2 in front.
QWERTY was looking to secure P2 in the race and it was set in stone after getting Kirito into turn 1 on Lap 31.
After 33 laps of racing, Blaze took home a dominant victory, meaning we now have a 4th winner in 4 races. QWERTY bagged a second place in his first points finish of the season and it was Scar who managed to take a 1st podium of the season and quadrupled his points total for the season after taking 3rd. Kirito took 4th after in game penalties, SLR Southerner 5th, Adrian 6th, Beast 7th, JMC 8th, and SLR Mash and Owen rounding out the top 10.
Do we even have to mention next week? I guess I’m obliged to… Monaco.
The 18th of August will provide a bigger explosion than anything Oppenheimer could produce as Division 2 tackle the streets of the principality.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 1:16.184 dRaSt1k bLazE
1 dRaSt1k bLazE
2 Scar B0rga
3 UKBeastAssassin
4 F1ABQW3RTYYY
5 SLR Liamm
6 FRL Kirito
7 Adrian VIII
8 SLR Mash
9 SLR Southerner
10 OwenHowell36
11 Active JMC
12 SLR Allen
13 LSW L3G3ND44
14 VapidCoot74
15 Kislesko
16 GoldenEggFryer
17 ChicknRosery
18 ZachIsBeast25
19 TIR Haze
20 Lenbau04
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:18.525 SLR Liamm
1 dRaSt1k bLazE
2 F1ABQW3RTYYY
3 Scar B0rga
4 FRL Kirito
5 SLR Southerner
6 Adrian VIII
7 UKBeastAssassin
8 Active JMC
9 SLR Mash
10 OwenHowell36
11 GoldenEggFryer
12 SLR Allen
13 ZachIsBeast25
14 SLR Liamm
15 Kislesko
16 TIR Haze (DNF)
17 VapidCoot74 (DNF)
18 Lenbau04 (DNF)
19 ChicknRosery (DNF)
20 LSW L3G3ND44 (DNF)
Division 3
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 1:17.476 SLR Moley
1 SLR Moley
2 SLR Vettel
3 Big Mike1859
4 BadOtterTV
5 SLR Leah
6 JPPGaming96
7 l 21 l Maxwell
8 SLR Hicklin
9 HuskySaturn1943
10 Starsorphan6
11 EchoAA23
12 Scott85Laney
13 SLR James96
14 lofty012
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:19.402 SLR Moley
1 SLR Moley
2 BadOtterTV
3 SLR Hicklin
4 EchoAA23
5 l 21 l Maxwell
6 JPPGaming96
7 HuskySaturn1943
8 SLR Leah
9 Starsorphan6
10 Scott85Laney
11 SLR James96
12 Big Mike1859 (DNF)
13 SLR Vettel (DNF)
14 lofty012 (DNF)
Big Mike 1859 vs SLR Vettel Lap 1 incident- Lap 1
Outcome: NFA
Here we think that even though Vettel does get pushed off slightly, he slows down way too much for the corner making it hard for Mike behind to adjust, so we think there is no one to blame here.
EchoAA23 vs JPPGaming96 vs Lofty012 Lap 1 incident- Lap 1
Outcome: NFA
Here we think there are a few things that happen, Echo does brake pretty early which the car behind doesn’t get much time to react to, and JPP had someone tap him meaning he was on the inside and had nowhere to go so we feel there is no blame here also.
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