We are back! After a three week break Formula 2 returns and for Round 13 we are at Brazil where last season we didn’t race here but last time we did we had an absolute cracker! Same again?
One Shot Quail! Everyone practices one shot qualifying in the dry and sods law it rains! Nevertheless it didn’t stop championship leader HamJam who goes into this round leading the championship by a single point to claim yet another pole position. SLR Cech made his return to Formula 2 with a fantastic qualifying to start second 0.239 behind Ham. Behind in row two is Raceroller and UKBeastAssassin. Hams championship rival.....teammate.....and brother JamHam had a moment in sector three to end up in tenth to make it a mountain to climb in his battle for a second F2 title.
The Feature! Revs were up and away we went. Going through the Senna S for the first time no drama at the front only the back where three into one between J Lee Menz, Freeman and N1GHT RANG3R only ended in disaster especially for the Prema and UNI Virtuosi drivers. However end of lap one Ham would lead with already a gap of 1.6 seconds which was crucial for a track like Brazil. He would lead from UKBeastAssassin and SLR Mckeon who made a fantastic start to the race. Going into lap four Ham had extended his lead to two seconds to the seven car train that was being lead by UKBeastAssassin. We didn’t see much more action for a few laps until Cech would attempt a move on SLR Mckeon which unfortunately would fail to do and get punished because of it being overtaken by Raceroller. Drama on lap nine as J Lee Menz and Beast would come together resulting in damage to both drivers and spinning. Massive shame as the Charouz driver was looking at a podium position. Lap 14 all the drivers had made their stops. Jam would be a big winner moving up to 4th making the alternate strategy work and was on course to chase down Cech and Mckeon ahead of him. Couple of laps later the ART driver would take Cech to climb onto a rostrum spot to chase down Mckeon with a few laps to go. Coming to the finish line it was yet another Feature race win for HamJam who in fact would win by eight seconds from his championship rival JamHam. Raceroller would take the last podium spot. A mistake from SLR Mckeon in the final few corners cost him a deserved podium so would end up having to settle for 4th. SLR Southerner would claim 5th and finish ahead of Cech in 6th. NonRipeLoki would impress again to finish a F2 career best 7th ahead of SLR Barlow. In 9th for his first ever F2 points was Baggiefan 1995! After 36 races the longest non points scoring streak has come to an end and becomes the first Division 3 driver to claim points in F2 this season. To claim the last points scoring position was Bennett who was on for 7th before the game decided to shaft him after a disconnect....deserved more.
The Sprint! SLR Barlow would start on reverse grid pole ahead of NonRipeLoki....a very interesting front row. Behind them were SLR Cech and SLR Southerner. Away we went once more and it was the same order for the top four coming out of the Senna S for the first time. Loki would have a moment in sector two whilst being overtaken by Cech and Southerner resulting in the Dams driver dropping to the back. Lap later Cech would take the lead from Barlow with a stunning overtake round the outside. Unfortunately it got worse for Barlow moments later when he lost the rear going into turn one to also drop to the back of the pack along with fellow front row starter Loki.....we got excited too early. Drama didn’t stop there as Cech would also lose the rear going off into the grass to allow SLR Southerner to take the lead and the Trident driver losing half a dozen places. From first to ninth was now one big DRS train. Lap six we saw the start of a reoccurring theme between Southerner and Raceroller where for the rest of the race they would put on a show by continuously swapping places for the lead with JamHam lurking behind waiting for his moment. Lap 9 there was drama in the battle for the title where an overheating wheel set up causes HamJams car to spear off the track to lose an awful lot of ground on the DRS train at the front. Penultimate lap and the battle at the front heating up. Southerner now defended more heavily on Raceroller which resulted in JamHam finally making his move and both got the job done on Southerner. Raceroller would remain in the lead. But yet moments later more drama in the race and for the title where Jam would do a mistake and lose the rear in sector three to lose a couple of places to promote Beast and Freeman. Lap later and after an absolute thrilling Sprint race it was Raceroller who would become a winner once more in Formula 2 and would do it on his 50th F2 race. Southerner would settle for second and another Sprint podium followed by Freeman who made a daring move on Beast late on to bow out on his SLR F2 career with a podium. Jam would recover from his mistake to take an important fourth from SLR Mckeon in fifth. UKBeastAssassin would fall back to sixth through pens and to take the last two points scoring positions would be Bennett and Cech.
And that was Brazil for you and wow! Drama, surprises and fantastic battles! The title would go to the wire between HamJam and JamHam who are now TIED on points! What an unbelievable season we have had! This amazing saga concludes next week at Abu Dhabi where we will be crowning either a new Formula 2 champion or crown a double Formula 2 champion! You cant miss this for the world!
Qualifying
1 HAMJAM2002 1:24.964
2 SLR CECH
3 RACEROLLER22
4 UKBEASTASSASSIN
5 SLR SOUTHERNER
6 SLR MCKEON
7 BENNETT628
8 PSR FREEMAN
9 N1GHT RANG3R 95
10 XX JAMHAM XX
11 J LEE MENZ
12 SLR SEMM
13 NONRIPELOKI
14 BAGGIEFAN 1995
15 SLR BARLOW
Feature
1 HAMJAM2002
2 XX JAMHAM XX 1:16.859
3 RACEROLLER22
4 SLR MCKEON
5 SLR SOUTHERNER
6 SLR CECH
7 NONRIPELOKI
8 SLR BARLOW
9 BAGGIEFAN 1995
10 BENNETT628
11 PSR FREEMAN
12 UKBEASTASSASSIN
13 N1GHT RANG3R 95 + 10 SECS
14 J LEE MENZ DNF +5 SECS
15 SLR SEMM DNF
UKBeastAssassin Vs J Lee Menz - spinning another car (feature lap 9)
Outcome: 5 seconds + 1LP for Menz
Reason: Although beast spins the car on his own after the contact, we still feel a penalty was needed for Menz for hitting into beast and forcing him off the track.
J Lee Menz Vs PSR Freeman Vs N1GHT RANG3R 95 - Turn 2 collision (Feature lap 1)
Outcome: 10 seconds + 2LP for Ranger
Reason: 3 wide through turn 2 is very difficult. Ranger probably should of gone over the kerb more to avoid contact but instead is to eager to get back on the track and spins out Freeman also collecting Menz along the way. Freeman could not of left anymore room as he also had Jam to his left
Sprint
1 RACEROLLER22
2 SLR SOUTHERNER
3 PSR FREEMAN
4 XX JAMHAM XX 1:17.157
5 SLR MCKEON
6 UKBEASTASSASSIN
7 BENNETT628
8 SLR CECH
9 NONRIPELOKI
10 BAGGIEFAN 1995
11 N1GHT RANG3R 95
12 J LEE MENZ
13 HAMJAM2002 DNF
14 SLR SEMM DNF
15 SLR BARLOW DNF
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