The sunshine in the Algarve in Portugal plays host to the final leg of the European Season as the second of three DLC tracks and late additions to the S7 calendar, and interest was peaking as this was a proper test of skill and strategy as it was the first Portuguese Grand Prix in SLR
And while it would bring some unknowns forward, it would be a familiar face on pole position, as championship leader Midzy15 was the only driver to clock a time in the 1:15s, setting a 1:15.776, which was +0.227 faster than the Aston Martin of NRX Astro, and +0.316 ahead of Crispy2001 in the Ferrari.
The race start was hotly anticipated, and it was conservative, with the top 4 maintaining their positions off the start, but in the midfield, it was Riggs and SLR Niki chopping and changing for P8 inbetween the 2 redbulls, but incident further back would see SLR Ham lose out in the later stages of the first lap, sending the Alpine down the order.
The high kerbs on the inside of turn 1 would only need to wait till the next racing lap before it would claim a driver, SLR Niki would clip the inside of turn 1 on Lap 2, sending the Alfa Romeo into a spin, with Riggs and Raceroller22 having to take avoiding action as the spin was gradual and dominant on the racing line, luckily, to the knowledge of the writer, nobody was caught up in this spin. Later on the same lap, the infamous climb and tricky traction zone at Turn 8 would see Ghost Colt make the first mistake, spinning the Alpha Tauri into the grass.
Midzy15 was building a formidable lead in the early stages, with a 3s gap already by lap5 and NRX Astro offering nothing in return, with the Aston Martin seeing scarlet red in the mirror as Crispy2001 was looking to find a way through, eventually finding his way past with a smooth move up the inside at turn 1.
Sillybunny47711 would make the same mistake as Ghost Colt at turn 8 on Lap 8, which would see the Mercedes driver spin into retirement and well clear from the track, meaning that no safety car was needed in cleaning up the side of the track.
Midfield battling between the McLaren of Klutzywinter and the Alpine of Riggs get heated as both began to fight hard and firm for P7, with both going side by side and each refusing to budge through the triple right handers of turn 1, 2 and 3. Riggs would get his elbows out on the delicate rise through 4 and hold position, before the McLaren would return the favour. This battling got the red bull of Raceroller interested as he looked for a way past the Alpine into Turn 5, attempting a daring move round the outside, but unable to make it stick, and having to slot back in behind
Unable to make any inroads on the cars ahead, Raceroller decided against sitting in the dirty air, and opting for a cleaner run and pitting early, triggering the undercut on Lap10, as this would attract attention across the grid. SLR Cech would spin the car on turn 4 and narrowly miss the wall on the left side, as turn 4 was gradually becoming just as infamous as turn 8 for managing traction and tyre wear beginning to become a more prominent factor
Para quick would also go for an undercut, and the undercut would become a serious contender in terms of shaking up the order. Midzy15 and NRX Astro would pit on Lap 12, and with Midzy15 having a healthy lead when pitting, was safe from any threat of an undercut, but the same couldn’t be said for Astro, who just kept a rapid Para at Bay
Crispy2001 and Zydrad would pit on lap 13, and would throw themselves immediately back into the mix, with Crispy just managing to come out next to NRX Astro, however, Zydrad would lose the places to his teammate, and also Para quick
Crispy would look to try and make the place on Astro onto the braking zone of turn 5, but with wheel to wheel contact, would put them both out of shape and send the Ferrari cutting the grass on the inside, and being awarded a 5s penalty, adding more time to his finishing result
Division would pit on Lap 19 from the lead, after starting on the alternate strat, and in turn, gives Midzy15 the lead once again, with the Williams driver enjoying a 7s gap out in front. Zydrad would takeover as leader of the train for P2 on lap 20, as this battle for 2nd stretched all the way down to P7 and with such close proximity in racing, any slight mistake would prove critical to the race result at this stage, crossing into the final third of the race.
Riggs and Klutzywinter would pick up where they left off on lap 23, as the battle for P8 would heat up once again through S1 and into the beginning of S2. Klutzy would try once again into turn 1, and once again, stern defence from the Alpine would keep the McLaren in the wing mirrors and not ahead. Third time the charm for the McLaren on Lap 26 would see Klutzy get past Riggs and maintain the position
The race would see its fair share of Riggs and Klutzy battle hard in the final stages, but up front, it was a quiet affair in the battle for P2, and with 33 racing laps in the Algarve, it would be Midzy15 enjoying a 10s win to get his championship challenge back on the rails, with Zydrad managing his race to secure a solid P2 finish, with his Aston Martin teammate NRX Astro benefitting from Crispy’s penalties to take the final step on the podium
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.15.776
1. Midzy15
2. NRX Astro
3. Crispy2001
4. ZyDRAD
5. PaRa Quickz
6. KlutzyWinter830
7. SLR Niki
8. SLR Dylan
9. R1ggs8
10. raceroller22
11. bezzas1
12. II Division II
13. Jito DV
14. SLR Ham19
15. UKBeastAssassin
16. SLR Jam40
17. SLR Cech
18. gho3t COLT
Race
Fastest Lap:01.17.889 SLR Niki
1. Midzy15
2. ZyDRAD
3. NRX Astro
4. PaRa Quickz
5. raceroller22
6. SLR Dylan
7. Crispy2001
8. KlutzyWinter830
9. bezzas1
10. R1ggs8
11. Jito DV
12. SLR Niki
13. SLR Cech
14. II Division II (DNF)
15. gho3t COLT (DNF)
16. UKBeastAssassin (DNF)
17. SLR Ham19 (DNF)
18. SillyBunny447711 (DNF)
19. SLR Jam40 (DNF)
We kicked off the weekend with another new track, this time it was Portugal where last weeks pole sitter shut medal was a man on form picking up his second pole position in as many races, vapidcoot74 rounded out the front row with SLR Allen and badottertv lining u being them on the second row.
The 5 lights went out and badottertv was the guy who got reacted the fastest and jumped straight up to p1 from p4 but he was quicky overtaken but shutmedal to regain his lead.
Action further down the field as last weeks winner SLR Bennett was hit from behind and spun demoting him to the back of the field.
Lap 2 and the fast starting Badottertv had spun dropping him to the back and promoting SLR Allen to p2.
Lap 5 and the rain started to fall which meant the drivers would have to drive carefully until the wets were the faster tyre but before the drivers had the chance to take a gamble SLR Morgan crashed bringing out the safety car which meant everyone would pit for the intermediates.
SLR Allen would get us back underway in p1 and had a fantastic first couple of laps pulling 2 seconds on vapidcoot then shortly after coot would have an incident demoting him to p16! Promoting eliteXriskz who started from the back up to p2 and masongammon into p3. Lap 18 and the virtual safety car was brought out after BadotterTV’s bad race had come to an end.
With not much happening after the virtual safety car onwards the checkered flag waved and SLR Allen was the man to cross the line in p1! A fantastic drive one he was very happy with. Masongammon followed closely behind in p2 and EliteXriskz rounded out the podium.
Join us next week as we move to Sochi for the Russian Grand Prix!
Division One Result: Portugal
Qualifying
Pole Time: 1:16.603
1. ShutMedal
2. VapidCoot74
3. SLR Allen
4. BadOtterTV
5. SLR Morgan
6. MasonGammon05
7. SLR Bennett3810
8. SLR Semm
9. ARL PReDaToRZz
10. SotierClock110
11. l VR46 l
12. SF1 Moley
13. Adrian VIII
14. SLR Jay22
15. OwenHowell36
16. LP Smoke
17. ELiTE x RisKz
18. DPT Paul
19. rockamad73
20. SLR Liamm
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:19.799 - ShutMedal
1. SLR Allen
2. MasonGammon05
3. ELiTE x RisKz
4. DPT Paul
5. ShutMedal (FL) (+3s)
6. ARL PReDaToRZz
7. SF1 Moley
8. SLR Bennett3810
9. VapidCoot74
10. SLR Liamm (-5s)
11. Adrian VIII
12. OwenHowell36
13. l VR46 l
14. SLR Jay22 (+5s)
15. LP Smoke
16. SotierClock110
17. SLR Semm (RET)
18. BadOtterTV (RET)
19. rockamad73 (RET)
20. SLR Morgan (DNF)
VapidCoot74 Vs rockamad73 - collision (Lap 14)
Outcome: 3LP + quali ban for Rockamad due to DNF
Reason: Going into turn 2, Rockamad completely misses his braking and causes a big collision with vapid, spinning him out and losing Vapid multiple positions.
l VR46 l Vs Adrian VIII / OwenHowell36 - spinning another car (Lap 10)
Outcome: No action taken
Reason: As shown from Adrian's POV, VR46 was never Infront of him nor did Adrian ever hit him. Although on VRs POV it shows him being Infront and Adrian hitting him from behind, we have concluded this incident was down to lag and it would be very harsh to penalise Adrian.
l VR46 l Vs SLR Jay22 - Collision (lap 33)
Outcome: 5 secs + 1LP to Jay
Reason: VR46 was less than 2 tenths behind Jay and we feel a move up the inside was definitely on for him. We feel Jay broke slightly too early and also turnt in for the corner too early resulting in the collision happening. Jay still could of avoided it by turning to the right slightly.
Adrian VIII Vs SLR Liamm - Collision under VSC (lap 18)
Outcome: Racing incident and 5 second penalty removed for Liam
Reason: As shown from Liam's clip, the red bull driver was massively over his delta and had to slow down drastically to be within the correct delta. No wrong doing here from Liam and he will also have his 5 second pen removed (I stupidly forgot to put it under investigation even though he submitted it)
DPT Paul Vs ShutMedal - Divebomb/Squeezing (lap 30)
Outcome: 3 secs + 1LP to Shut
Reason: The tough track conditions maybe play a slight part here but going into turn 1, Paul is the car ahead. It's hard to go 2 wide through turn 1 and although it was close, we feel shut does squeeze Paul off the track and ultimately loses a position because of it.
Division 1
In Division 2 this week a slightly smaller grid of 16 took to Portugal with again some mixed weather conditions would see championship leader Masseyf1 bow out of Q1 to everyone’s surprise.
Q2 and Q3 saw wet conditions throughout and it was very close with pole position going the way of AWRL Kevin having a great battle with ARL Tooman throughout.
GoldenEggFryer picked up his best qualifying result with a P3 starting position showing he had some pace.
To the race then and a wet start upand a clean get away from the front to meant they could push on early and build a gap. Meanwhile in behind that Zachisbeast got spun round.
Lots of position changes on the opening lap with SLR Leah and SLR ALE both making up 5 positions.
Very few changes then after as the wet conditions and no DRS was proving difficult for drivers to over take.
Skipping ahead to Lap 7 and the DRS became enabled as the tracked dried fairly quickly. Lots of mixed tyre choices for the drivers softs and mediums majority but DRT Andrew first to pit to the hard tyres.
There was a big gap out front with Tooman and Kevin holding a 12 second lead over the chasing pack. Who were battling over P3 and the different tyre compounds were showing the difference in pace. SLR Charlie now looking to make up places on the softs with the two ahead on mediums and hard tyre compounds. And as him and JackMull were overtaking Andrew our first safety car appeared after dRaSt1k bLaZe lost it.
This meant that a lot of the field pitted again going on to the mediums to hopefully go to the end of the race. SLR Dosser chose to go with the faster softer tyre however coming out and getting back underway in P14 after making another stop.
That didn’t stop Dosser though as he was flying through the field once the race got back underway after 1 lap he was up to 7th.
Some great wheel to wheel action on the restart to as Kevin made up a place. Slightly further back Leah and Andrew got passed Scar B0rga.
Kevin in the same spot as last lap at turn 3 getting passed JackMull to get back up to 2nd as we were now halfway through the race.
There would be more action the next lap between JackMull and Kevin going into turn 1 and not enough space meant meant Kevin would spin and Jack mull would have damage.
SLR Leah running P5 got a bit throttle happy and then lost it later on in the lap.
A second safety car on lap 21 meant the whole field came in for the soft tyres having seen how beneficial they were for SLR dosser who was now running in 2nd place.
A few laps left now then and huge battle emerging for P3 with dosser and Tooman seemingly out front battling for the win until Tooman made a mistake and lit up the rears and spun dropping him back.
So this meant with dosser out front with time penalties to be added the battle for 2nd was extremely close in the closing stages. Andrew, Charlie and ALE battling it out for what would be the win.
It was DRT Andrew that would take his 2nd win in Division 2 with a clean drive. SLR Charlie would get on the podium in 2nd place continuing his great run of results. SLR ALE would round off the podium after coming from the back of the grid. Zachisbeast picked up a P4 taking back the championship lead. SLR dosser despite crossing the line first would finish P5 haas teammate SLR Leah would be P6, Tooman P7, Scar B0rga P8, OG James P9 and GoldenEggFryer P10
Qualifying
1. AWRL Kevin
2. ARL Tooman
3. GoldenEggFryer
4. ZachIsBeast25
5. JackMullCGFC
6. ScarBOrga
7. SLR Jack
8. DRT Andrew
9. SLR CHARLIE1
10. SLR Dosser
11. SLR Leah
12. dRaSt1k bLazE
13. SLR Barlow
14. AZ Bottas
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.18.700 ARL Tooman
1. DRT Andrew
2. SLR CHARLIE1
3. SLR ALE
4. ZachIsBeats25
5. SLR Dosser
6. SLR Leah
7. ARL Tooman
8. Scar BOrga
9. OG James 96
10. GoldenEggFryer
11. JackMullCGFC
12. SLR Jack
13. SLR Barlow
14. AWRL Kevin (DNF)
15. MasseyF1 (DNF)
16. dRaSt1k bLazE (DNF)
Division 3
Welcome back to Division 3 round 15 Portuguese GP.
As we go into this weekend there will only be 13 qualifying around this 33 lap race. The championship fight between the top 2 is getting even more closer.
As we go into qualifying Maxwell couldn’t set a lap time this means he starts from the back of the field. The qualifying results are; LSW L3G3ND44 take Pole, SLR Kiara P2, BcfcJosh P3, ChicknRosery P4, EAAIDSDAN P5, Gregers P6, Rydel P7, Warhead P8, GEDDES P9, SLR Russell P10.
As we go to the famous five red lights after a lobby restart, Kiara gets an amazing start that’s LSW L3G3ND44 and they are up into the lead of this race before T1.
Lap 2; We have chicknRosery that has made 5 place after starting from the back of the field because of readying up early, an amazing performance so far by the Mercedes driver.
Lap 3; a spin from one of the Haas and it’s Rydel showing how difficult this track can be if you get a corner wrong.
Lap 4; LSW L3G3ND44 is gonna go for a move on Kiara but there is contact from both drivers as it was a bold move if LSW L3G3ND44 could have made the move stick.
Lap 6; Rydel goes for a move on Maxwell and what a move from the Haas driver showing the never give up attitude after his earlier spin. Oh no SLR Russell has spun and crashed out of the last corner this doesn’t bring out any cautions.
Lap 7; LSW L3G3ND44 goes for round 2 on Kiara but this time makes the move before T1 and now LSW L3G3ND44 is in control of the field.
Lap 9; oh no now we have lost Warhead at the same corner that we saw Russell spin off at. This brings out the first VSC.
Lap 10; Kiara has spun of from T1 and goes straight into the barrier and losses their whole front wing.
Lap 11; EAAIDSDAN has chosen to put for the mediums. And Kiara pits to change her front wing. Maxwell come in also.
Lap 12; GEDDES has came into the pits at the start of lap 12 for him he puts in the hards which will get him to the end of the race easily. At the end of lap 12 his teammate LSW L3G3ND44 the race leader also pits onto the hards till the end, a very different strategy to EAAIDSDAN was the first to stop in the top 3.
Lap 15; Bcfc Has retired in the pits even tho they would have gotten a point.
9 racers remaining and we aren’t even half way yet if this doesn’t prove how difficult and competitive these guys are i don’t know what will.
Lap 22; Now we have lost Rydel this brings out a VSC. Rydel was gonna get a point until his retirement.
Lap 29; Rain is falling onto the track and these guys are still on the slicks there only 4 laps to go is it worth starting out or do you box for inters this has change the race significantly.
As we are near the end of the most entertaining first race at Portugal for the division 3 guys. The rain got heavy and we saw, Maxwell, Gregers, EAAIDSDAN pit for the inters. But all the credit goes to LSW L3G3ND44 who wins the Portuguese GP and stayed out along with ChicknRosery that stayed out also to clam P2 and EAAIDSDAN round of the podium what a fantastic race to watch.
Hope to see you guys with some more division 3 action as they take on the Russian Grand Prix next.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.26.086
1. LSW L3g3nd
2. SLR Kaira
3. BcfcJosh1232752
4. ChicknRosery
5. EAAidsDan53
6. Gregers UK
7. Rydel06
8. RF1 Warhead
9. x J Geddes x
10. SLR Russell
11. I Cxmzn I
12. RWSRL Russell
13. I21I Maxwell
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.19.781 Rydel06
1. LSW L3g3nd44
2. ChicknRosery
3. EAAidsDan53
4. Gregers UK
5. x J Geddes x
6. I21I Maxwell
7. I Cxmzn I
8. Rydel06
9. BcfcJosh1232752
10. SLR Kaira
11. RF1 Warhead
12. SLR Russell
13. RWSRL Latifi
I Maxwell I 21 vs SLR Kiara - Lap 10
SLR Kiara has front wing damage and slows down as she would run out wide in the fast right hander. This causes I Maxwell I 21 to run into SLR Kiara’s rear diffuser, giving him damage. The stewards believe this is not SLR Kiara’s fault. Therefore the stewards won’t hand out a penalty.
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