Round 14 of the SLR Formula 2 season saw us at the temple of speed in Monza! In previous seasons here in F2 it was never short of drama and full of carnage! Same again?
One Shot Quali! It was the usual suspects at the front and very close it was. HamJam took pole position just pipping ZyDRAD. JamHam took third to set up potentially a tasty feature between the three as were all separated by only 0.134. Sharing the row with Jam was Raceroller and behind in row three was the brothers of SLR Darnell and SLR Southerner.
The Feature! Revs were up and away we went! As per usual ZyDRAD got away from his grid slot like a rocket! Even more impressive to do so on the harder tyre. This resulted in the reigning champ to take the lead going into turn one. Can he keep all the softer running drivers behind? Lap four we saw a mistake from JamHam who lost it on traction coming out of the first chicane to drop all the way to ninth where he was now behind an incredible fight for the now third position between Darnell, Southerner, UKBeastAssassin and Raceroller. Lap 9 we saw N1GHT RANG3R bin it at Ascari to bring out the Safety car for the first time this round! This meant all drivers who started on the harder tyre were rewarded for their bravery! Of course one of them being ZyDRAD. Another big winner was Bennett who was now into third position. The Charouz pair of UKBeastAssassin and SLR Mckeon opted to pit back on the softs along with SLR Darnell which ultimately would backfire. Safety car comes in and on the restart ZyDRAD makes the most of those fresh softs to pull away into the distance with laps remaining. Across the line ZyDRAD once again wins the feature and impressively done it was! HamJam would take second maintaining his fine form followed by another Podium by Raceroller who pipped JamHam who had to settle for fourth despite the earlier spin. SLR Semm, J Lee Menz and Southerner would all provisionally finish from fourth to seventh. J Lee Menz scoring his first ever F2 Points and a strong amount of points too. Another strong performer was Coupe a Benz who would finish eighth and start on reverse grid pole for the sprint.
The Sprint! Away we went once more but Benz lost the lead immediately with a lot of wheel spin. Southerner and Semm would take advantage and lead the way going into turn one where we saw absolute carnage! N1GHT RANG3R completely missed his braking point and went into the side of multiple drivers into turn one. J Lee Menz being the biggest loser in this. Further more seconds later we saw Benz lose it on traction dropping him all the way to the back! What a mess turn one was and unsurprisingly the safety car came out. End of lap 4 the safety car came in and away we went again. Semm making the most of Southerners slipstream led to an attempt for the lead. Being held off would instantly cost him second to ZyDRAD who immediately made the charge for Southerner who would again hold off the threat from behind to keep the lead but for how long? Couple of laps later ZyDRAD would take the lead following a better exit out of Ascari. Jam was making up the places where into turn one would take third from Semm and then a lap later would take second from Southerner. The charge for ZyDRAD begun! Last lap can ZyDRAD withhold the pressure? Turn one would be the deciding moment where a corner cut whilst defending his lead gave the reigning champion a time penalty which ultimately ended the battle. Crossing the line first nevertheless was still ZyDRAD but would quickly drop to third because of the pen resulting in JamHam taking the win and SLR Southerner taking second for only his second podium of the season. SLR Semm would end an impressive round at Monza finishing the sprint in fourth followed by SLR Darnell, UKBeastAssassin, J Lee Menz and SLR Mckeon who would take up the remaining points finishing places. HamJam would finish outside the points following an incident behind the safety car involving Raceroller.
With four rounds to go the battle for the title between JamHam, HamJam and ZyDRAD would get ever closer. We have a blockbuster of a title fight here in Formula 2! The saga continues next week in Singapore.....its going to be a long night.
-SLR Southerner
Qualifying
1 HAMJAM2002 1:27.750
2 ZYDRAD
3 XX JAMHAM XX
4 RACEROLLER22
5 SLR DARNELL
6 SLR SOUTHERNER
7 UKBEASTASSASSIN
8 J LEE MENZ
9 SLR MCKEON
10 GEORGE8001
11 SLR SEMM
12 COUPE A BENZ
13 SSR HALO
14 N1GHT RANG3R 95
15 OWENHOWELL36
16 SLR SCOPEZZ
17 BENNETT628
18 PSR FREEMAN
Feature
1 ZYDRAD 1:29.147
2 HAMJAM2002
3 RACEROLLER22
4 SLR SOUTHERNER - 5 SECS
5 SLR SEMM
6 J LEE MENZ
7 XX JAMHAM XX + 5 SECS
8 COUPE A BENZ
9 PSR FREEMAN
10 SLR DARNELL
11 UKBEASTASSASSIN
12 BENNETT628
13 OWENHOWELL36
14 SSR HALO + 15 SECS
15 SLR MCKEON DNF16 N1GHT RANG3R 95 DNF
17 GEORGE8001 DNF
18 SLR SCOPEZZ DNF
SLR Southerner vs JamHam
Outcome: 5 sec +1 LP for Jam
Reason
It looks as if Jam is coming into the the pits. However at theist second decides to back out and cuts the pitman doing so.
PSR Freeman vs SSR Halo
Outcome: 15 sec + 3LP for Halo
Reason: Halo is a lap down from the rest of the fielding finds himself amongst the pack after the safety car. He should comfortably just move out of the way for all drivers behind however fails to do this for 3 laps straight. Again when you are a lap down from everyone, even with ghosting on you still need to move out of the wayand let drivers through.
SLR Southerner vs the game
Outcome: -5 sec
Reason: This was a tough call however after careful review became to the conclusion that he was reacting to Jam ahead and that's why he slows down to give Jam room under the SC.
Sprint
1 XX JAMHAM XX 1:29.251
2 SLR SOUTHERNER
3 ZYDRAD
4 SLR SEMM
5 UKBEASTASSASSIN - 5 SECS
6 SLR DARNELL
7 SLR MCKEON - 5 SECS
8 J LEE MENZ
9 RACEROLLER22 + 20 SECS
10 HAMJAM2002
11 SLR SCOPEZZ + 35 SECS
12 GEORGE8001
13 PSR FREEMAN
14 N1GHT RANG3R 95 + 20 SECS
15 SSR HALO DNF
16 BENNETT628 DNF
17 COUPE A BENZ DNF
18 OWENHOWELL36 DNF
SLR Darnell vs SLR Scopezz
Outcome: 15 sec + 3LP for scopezz
Reason: Both drivers are wheel to wheel coming up to turn 4. Before even reaching the corner Scopezz turns in like Darnell is not even there and ultimately causes Darnell to half spin and lose 4 positions.
SLR Darnell vs SLR Scopezz
Outcome: 10 sec +2 LP for Scopezz
Coming up to turn 4 again, Darnell tries a move down the inside, it seems like the move is done however Scopezz front left was making contact with Darnells rear right the whole time and this causes Darnell to spin. If Scopezz left a little more room this would have been avoided.
Ham vs Raceroller
Outcome: 20 sec +4LP for Raceroller
Reason: Roller smashes into the back of Ham under the SC, giving Ham a 5 sec time penalty and orange wing damage which ultimately ruins his race. Please make sure to pay attention under SC conditions.
J Lee Menz vs Night Ranger
Outcome: 20 sec +4LP for ranger
Reason: Rnager seems to just completely straight line turn 1 and ends up smashing into Menz giving him majpr wing damage. Very reckless driving tbh.
UKBeastAssassin + SLR McKeon vs game
Outocome: both 5 sec pens removed
Reason: Both Beast and Mckeon pick up an 5 sec pen for an illegal overtake under SC through no fault of their own. Enough evidence were submitted for these to be removed.
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