McKeon:
The Mckeon division came to Portimao for Round 3 of the championship. With the top 5 separated by 10 points it would be all to play for.
First blood would go to season 7 championship runner up Midzy, who would claim pole position at Portimao for the second season in a row, with Griffiths and Corey rounding out the top 3. The top 8 were only separated by 3 tenths of a second.
Midzy would maintain his lead at the start, Griffiths would remain in second while ETE Crowding got up to 3rd after starting from 5th. The top 2 would pull away from the rest of the field over the next several laps, partially due to Crowding having poor race pace in the first stint.
By lap 6 Crowding had dropped down to 7th, Raceroller made a move and looked to have relegated crowding down another position, but Crowding kept his nose in and the two made contact, spinning Roller out. The reigning champion would have a lot to do from 17th place.
He was thrown a lifeline however, as when he and Riggs both opted for an undercut on lap 9, KevinGT’s wheel failed on the pit straight, with several drivers trying to avoid him, Monkey lost control of his car and hit the wall, meaning everyone on the softs would have a chance for a free pit stop, Whereas those on the alternate strategy were left at a disadvantage.
The race resumed on lap 12, with the top 2 of midzy and Griffiths once again pulling away from the rest of the field.
There would be more drama on lap 24 as zydrad made a late lunge on corey for 6th but ran into the williams and spun, this means that Zydrad would go from 7th to 14th in what has been a very poor start to the season for the multiple race winner.
There would be more carnage as JibJab and Riggsey clashed while fighting for p10, with the pair of them spinning off the track and losing out on any chance of points. Having pressured Midzy all race, Griffiths would get a penalty on lap 31 which put an end to his hopes of victory.
Midzy would lead every lap on his way to his 2nd victory in 3 races and would extend his lead in the championship. Crispy would take advantage of Griffith’s late penalty and finish 2nd while Griffiths finished 3rd, with Para and Ogween completing the top 5.
SLR heads to spain next week with midzy hoping to make it a 3rd win from 4 races, But can the likes of Crispy, Roller, Ogween or Para get their first win of the season, or will there be a surprise winner?
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.15.798
1. Midzy15
2. SLR Griffiths
3. SLR Corey
4. Mr Ogween
5. ETE Crowding
6. Crispy2001
7. PaRa Quickz
8. raceroller22
9. ZyDRAD
10. II Division II
11. KevinGT9389
12. SLR Connor
13. II Monkeyy II
14. V2 x Combat
15. ETE Semm
16. JibJab325
17. MerKz47
18. Riggsey x
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.17.704 Riggsey x
1. Midzy15
2. Crispy2001
3. SLR Griffiths
4. PaRa Quickz
5. Mr Ogween
6. V2 x Combat
7. ETE Crowding
8. SLR Corey
9. raceroller22
10. ZyDRAD
11. SLR Connor
12. MeRkz47
13. JibJab325
14. Riggsey x
15. KevinGT9389
16. ETE Semm (RET)
17. Il Monkeyy lI (DNF)
18. Il Division lI (DNF)
01) Incident involving Raceroller22 & ETE Crowding - Lap 6 (Causing a collision)
Outcome: Warning to Raceroller22 for unsportsmanlike conduct
Reason: This incident was assessed in 2 parts, and after examining the evidence provided to us, the stewards concluded that:
1. Raceroller’s move on Crowding was definitely on, and fairly well executed until the point of corner exit. The stewards do not believe that the understeer claim made by raceroller to be factual given throttle input shortly after the apex of the corner, and sound knowledge from everyone that the corner exit falls away from the car. Roller did not leave sufficient room for Crowding on corner exit, but no significant time was lost by the Aston Martin driver. Thus, the Stewards have awarded a Warning to Raceroller22.
2. Crowding’s spin of Raceroller has been concluded as a racing incident.
This is because following on from crowding Crowding off the track, roller attempts to turn in for the following left hander almost immediately after Cowding has 4 wheels back onto the circuit. The stewards are of the opinion that more time should’ve passed before Raceroller turned across the circuit in order to keep the move as clean as possible. Any attempt from crowding to slow at this stage would’ve been seen as dangerous given Zydrad’s Alpha Tauri was positioned just behind the pair at this stage, so could easily have seen an extra car become involved in the incident unnecessarily.
Division 1:
For the final race of the week at portimao, Division 1 didn't fail to disappoint. It was the first race of SLR season 8 to have rain affect the outcome, but firstly, in the dry stint where everyone inside the top 6 qualified on mediums for Q2 it was a drs train for the top ten, which is so common at portimao and that train was spearheaded by the battle for p1 between Jito DV and Syncwesty which was backing up the cars waiting patiently behind which meant the race was wide open for when the rain came lashing down.
Pretty much everyone pitted on the same lap for intermediate tyres on lap 13. However Arb0n EPA running in p4 at the time had to wait behind his team mate in the pit box and cost him a heap of time allowing SLR Cech who wasn't in the lead train after the soft runners pit to jump Arb0n meanwhile ARL Tooman stayed out an extra lap but didn't lose any positions due to the problems in the Red Bull pit box.
1 lap after the change to green wall intermediate tyres Barlow was the first victim of the very challenging conditions crashing into the wall at the exit of turn 10, bringing out the safety car. This meant the pack would be bunched up again and setting up an interesting last ten laps When the safety car came in, it was disaster for pole sitter and race leader SyncWesty as he spun round at the final corner trying to catch people off guard but ultimately caught himself out.
After that, with the combination of rain and the portimao circuit being a hard track to overtake at the race was starting to get mundane and no more position changes to occur however on lap 28 out of 33 this all changed. A virtual safety car due to an incident towards the rear of the field would change everything for the battle at the top. ARL tooman who was having a brilliant race got caught out by the VSC delta and got a drive through penalty which would cost him the win and promote cech who can count his lucky stars at times into p1.
Also, the battle for p2 would heat up as the two red bulls went side by side through turns 2-4 after an opportunistic Arb0n caught Jito napping when going back to green flag running and overtook his Red Bull team mate round the outside to take his best ever finish in p2. Tooman after that drive through finished in a lowly p7. Cech with back-to-back wins, then as we head into Spain, let's see if the two red bulls or anyone else can de throne him and eat into his championship lead into Catalunya.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.16.076
1. XxSYNCWESTYxX
2. Jito DV
3. ELiTE x RisKz
4. Arb0n EPA
5. SLR Cech
6. ARL Tooman
7. J Lee Menz
8. ShutMedal
9. SLR Quattro
10. SLR Vandoorne
11. ZachIsBeast25
12. SLR Ham19
13. SLR Barlow
14. Loco Gibson
15. TheJosh32
16. SLR Jam40
17. SLR Badders
18. LP Smoke
19. SimbarocksONE
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.19.440 ELiTE x RisKz
1. SLR Cech
2. Arb0n EPA
3. Jito DV
4. Shutmedal
5. SLR Vandoorne
6. ARL Tooman
7. SLR Quattro
8. ZachIsBeast25
9. TheJosh32
10. ELiTE x RisKz
11. XxSYNCWESTYxX
12. SLR Ham19
13. SLR Jam40
14. J Lee Menz
15. Loco Gibson (RET)
16. SLR Badderss (RET)
17. SLR Barlow (DNF)
18. LP Smoke (RET)
19. SimbarocksONE (RET)
ELITE x RisKs
Outcome: 3 LP and a qualifying ban for the next race
Reason: resetting to track - lap 1
Division 2:
Round 3 of the season takes us to Portugal for the second ever time in SLR. DPT Paul has taken back to back wins to start the season so can he make it three in a row. Qualifying is a very tightly ran affair but it is VapidCoot73 who comes out on pole with a lap time of 1:16.764. Amazingly the drivers in second and third finished on the identical time of a 1:16.778! That being DPT Alfie and BadOtterTV. Our championship leader starts down in 11th place after a shock Q2 elimination. However on the alternate strategy and fresh mediums will he be at the right end of the field come the end.
So as the 5 lights went out and we got underway the raced seemed more like a sparring session down the local gym than a race. Through the first sector there was wheeling bumping throughout the entire grid and one car even going off onto the grass smashing the polystyrene advertising boards everywhere. However somehow there wasn’t a single spinner or driver who had to pit with damage on lap 1. VapidCoot73 had managed to hold onto the lead through the first lap.
But disaster quickly struck for our race leader who caught the inside curb of turn 1 on lap 2 and was around. Not just around but when he rejoined the track was stone dead last. Due to this BadOtterTV who managed to jump DPT Alfie on lap 1 inherited the lead.
Onto lap 3, which proved to be a crazy lap, and DPT Paul performs a brilliant double overtake on both Ferrari drivers of SLR Allen and CSCMorris down the second DRS straight into turn 5, this puts DPT Paul into 6th place already. This bunches the chasing pack up a fair bit which proves to be costly a few corners later.
On the infamous uphill right hander SLR Allen taps his teammates rear which causes him to spin and unfortunately for PrivateComet418 he is collected by the spinning Ferrari. legendarydannyd also sustains damage when he hits the spinning cars.
Back to the lead, we fast forward half a lap to the where LSW L3G3ND44 is attempting to make a move on BadOtterTV for the lead into turn 1 on lap 4 (for them). They are side by side through turn 1 and turn 2 but there’s contact between the two drivers! This sends LSW L3G3ND44 flying across the grass cutting turn 3 and receiving a 10 second corner cutting penalty for it.
As BadOtterTV and LSW L3G3ND44 clash for the lead of the race we have a huge crash from SLR Allen on pit entry. This unfortunately results in SLR Allen being our first retirement of the race and his stricken Ferrari blocking the pit lane entry. The safety car is deployed and it calms down what has been a crazy few opening laps.
The safety car departs us on lap 7 and things get back underway quickly. BadOtterTV gets the jump on LSW L3G3ND44 and holds onto the lead easily enough. But behind SLR Morgan was caught napping by DPT Alfie who is all over him in a battle for P3. Both drivers are side by side down the pit straight, through turns 1 & 2 and DPT Alfie is just a little later on the brakes into turn 3. Where he is able to complete the move and take third position.
DPT Alfie isn’t ahead for long as SLR Morgan regains third and begins trying to catch those ahead. It is lap 11 where SLR Morgan finally manages to pounce and overtake LSW L3G3ND44 for second place.
We fast forward to lap 13 where things get worse for LSW L3G3ND44 as he drops from 3rd to 5th in one corner! Both DPT Alfie and DPT Paul get past him at the same time. Later on in the lap DPT Alfie manages to also overtake SLR Morgan to move into second place.
This is where we see the first of the soft runners pit and switch onto the medium compound till the end. But disaster strikes for LSW L3G3ND44 who instead of going onto the medium tyres is put onto a set of intermediate tyres! Effectively destroying the McLaren drivers race as there isn’t a cloud in the sky.
The race then begins to clam down slightly with all the soft runners pitting and the medium runners trying to preserve their tyres as long as possible. But on lap 17 DPT Alfie has a moment to forget where he spins on the final corner. This ends up dropping him from 2nd place down into 5th place and still yet to pit. Has this corset him any chance at a podium?
Lap 20 and DPT Paul is out in front, yet to pit on a set of very worn medium tyres. Like his fellow DPT driver he spins! On the uphill right hander losing a good chunk of time. This provides I VR46 I a free pass and chance to take the lead of the race. It is at this point DPT Paul decides to pit and put some fresh softs on. The Alpine driver now has 12 laps to hunt those drivers ahead on much older tyres to protect his perfect start to the season.
Lap 26, the final 8 laps. DPT Paul, I VR46 I and DPT Alfie have all now pitted and managed to work their way past those slower cars who pitted onto mediums much earlier. They find themselves running 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively. The top 2 positions are held by BadOtterTV and OwenHowell36 who are both on 11 lap old medium tyres. They have roughly a 8 second gap to the trio of soft runners. It is now we will see which was the right strategy call.
Lap 31 and the top 5 is now covered by less than 5 seconds. BadOtterTV is still holding onto first place and has a buffer of roughly 2 seconds to OwenHowell36 behind. However OwenHowell36 does not have any buffer to the soft runners behind as his teammate DPT Paul is now within DRS distance.
At this point the top 3 all have 3 second time penalties for track limit violations. So could this open the door to both I VR46 I and DPT Alfie who are just behind in 4th and 5th but crucially not received any time penalties?
On the pit straight on Lap 31 into 32 DPT Paul manages to overtake OwenHowell36 for second place. Just behind DPT Alfie is trying to do the same but cannot find a way past the Alfa Romero of I VR46 I.
Lap 33 plays out in a similar fashion but tyres are starting to fade. It is almost heartbreak for DPT Paul who loses control of his car for a moment on the penultimate corner but manages to stay in second place ahead of OwenHowell36, but only just.
So the drivers begin to cross the line it is indeed BadOtterTV who crosses in 1st place, DPT Paul in 2nd, OwenHowell36 3rd, I VR46 I 4th and DPT Alfie in 5th. But the big question is, is that what the classification showed?
It’s not! Our race winner in division two was I VR46 I who managed to jump the three drivers ahead of him due to penalties. DPT Alfie also jumped up into second place. So even though he crossed the line in P1 BadOtterTV came home in 3rd place. Going to show that if you remain within the white lines and avoid those in game penalties it can prove the difference.
Join us again next week where we’re only taking the short jump across to Spain for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.16.764
1. VapidCoot74
2. DPT Alfie
3. BadOtterTV
4. OwenHowell36
5. SLR Morgan
6. Adrian VIII
7. SLR Allen
8. LSW L3G3ND44
9. CSCMorris
10. SLR Moley
11. DPT Paul
12. Shaggy653
13. IVR46I
14. legendarydannyd
15. ARL PReDaToRZz
16. Kemence61
17. PrivateComet418
18. SotierClock110
19. Ellis37
20. M Mcloughlin
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.17.906 LSW L3G3ND44
1. IVR46I
2. DPT Alfie
3. BadOtterTV
4. DPT Paul
5. OwenHowell36
6. SLR Moley
7. VapidCoot74
8. Kemence61
9. ARL PReDaToRZz
10. SotierClock110
11. Shaggy653 +15 sec
12. CSCMorris
13. AdrianV11
14. M Mcloughlin
15. Ellis 37
16. legendarydannyd +20 sec
17. LSW L3G3ND44
18. SLR Morgan +5 sec
19. PrivateComet418 (RET)
20. SLR Allen (DNF)
Incident 1:
Adrian Vs SLR Morgan - 5s and 1LP to SLR Morgan for causing a collision.
Even though it’s lap 1 it’s a dangerous rejoin that has significant consequences on Adrian’s race.
Incident 2:
BadOtter Vs LSW Legend - Racing Incident
Otter could’ve left more room like he did at t1.
Incident 3:
Allen Vs Morris Vs VR Vs Comet - Racing Incident
It’s unlucky as the incident ahead has nothing to do with him but others have to slow to avoid it and Comet just doesn’t react in time.
Incident 4:
Comet Vs VapidCoot - Racing Incident
Vapid is ahead and so is entitle to take the racing line. Comet just brakes a bit too late and runs into the back of him.
Incident 5:
Allen Vs Danny - 15s and 3LP to Danny for causing a major collision.
Although it looks as though Danny has damage he needs to be more aware of other around him. Crossing the whole track to get to the pits is dangerous and it caused a major collision.
Incident 6:
Danny Vs Predz - 5s and 1LP to Danny for spinning another car.
Danny misjudges his braking point, hitting the back of Predz and causing him to spin.
Incident 7:
15s and 3LP to Shaggy for resetting to track.
Resetting to track is never allowed unless absolutely necessary (e.g car is stuck in a barrier).
Division 3
In Division 3 this week in Q1 it went right to the wire in Q1 fighting to go through. The debutant SLR xhaka couldn’t quite make it through in his first session.
In Q2 championship leader at this early stage Simon37m would miss out on Q3 after persisting with trying to get through on the medium compound he’d end up missing out by .005 of a second.
In Q3 GoldenEggFryer set the early pace. But it would be SLR Charlie who took pole with a last second effort. THATGUY and active jmc were on the second row.
To the race then and some early and THATGUY had contact with GoldenEggFryer and that saw them go round and down the order. Gregers UK also getting into trouble and finding himself at the back. SLR Charlie kept the lead though and on lap 3 SLR Leah made his way up to 2nd after getting past active jmc.
Further back DimplyHornet and xfatal nation were going wheel to wheel through the last sector and would make the move on the start finsih straight.
THATGUY and GoldenEggFryer would come in to contact again on lap 5 and that would be the end of THATGUY race.
Meanwhile at the front Matt silva made the move on active jmc but would run wide and get the place straight back. The same would happen between SLR Leah and Charlie a lap later.
Lap 8 did see the lead change hands as Leah made it past in the second drs zone. Simon37m was sneaking up on the leaders and found himself in 3rd and quickly in 2nd as teammate Charlie let him charge after the leader who dived in to the pits.
The race took a bit of a break and the laps continued to be pumped in by the drivers.
On lap 20 the battle at the front started to heat up as Matt silva got up to P3 with Simon37m still leading and yet to pit.
Further back a big fight for lower points paying positions we had a active jmc, ssr halo, gregers Uk, skullkiller & SLR Jack fighting it out.
Back to the front though and Simon37m having now pitted for soft tyres teammate Charlie playing the team game letting him through to go after the lead. And he made a move up to P2 going into turn 1 on Matt silva.
Very next lap he then got the lead in the same place overtaking SLR Leah with 10 laps remaining he need to build a 5 second lead having picked up a speeding in the pit lane penalty.
With Simon37m now out of drs range it left Leah vulnerable to Matt silva who made the move to claim P2 with 8 laps left. And then from the lead Simon37m spun at turn 4 and he dropped down and left him with a lot of work to do to get in to the podium positions.
So Matt silva was now leading the race and about to have some fuel saving to do as well as Leah in 2nd but Charlie couldn’t get passed as the last few laps were a bit dull and that’s exactly what Matt silva wanted. As the the front 3 were covered by less than a second.
Matt silva took the win then. SLR Charlie promoted to P2 after Leah had a time penalty but Leah would hold on to 3rd. Simon37m took 4th. Gregers UK 5th, SLR Jack 6th, active jmc 7th, chicknrosery 8th, dRaSt1k bLazE 9th and SLR EVVO 10th.
*results above pre stewards
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.16.891
1. SLR CHARLIE1
2. GoldenEggFryer
3. THATGUY691244
4. Active JMC
5. SLR Jack
6. SLR Leah
7. Matt Silva
8. Gregers UK
9. SSR Halo
10. xFaTaL NaTioN
11. Simon37M
12. ChicknRosery
13. dRaSt1k bLazE
14. SKULLKILLER1814
15. DimplyHornet862
16. SLR EVVO
17. SLR Xhaka
18. Alpeh
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.18.391 Simon37M
1. Matt Silva
2. SLR CHARLIE1
3. SLR Leah
4. Simon37M
5. Gregers UK
6. SLR Jack
7. Active JMC +5 sec
8. ChicknRosery
9. dRaStik bLazE
10. SLR EVVO
11. SSR Halo
12. skullkiller1014
13. DimplyHornet962
14. Alpeh (RET)
15. SLR Xhaka (RET)
16. xFaTaL NaTioN (RET)
17. THATGUY691244 (DNF)
18. GoldenEggFryer (DSQ)
Golden egg fryer vs active JMC - lap 1
outcome: 5s&1LP going into turn one, JMC clips golden egg fryer which causes him to spin.
dRaSt1k bLazE be chickn rosery - quali block -
outcome: NFA blaze is clearly not on a lap therefore no penalty is to be awarded
dRaSt1k bLazE vs chickn rosery - lap 4-
outcome: NFA blaze is clearly lagging and seeing rosery’s pov there was no way for him to judge how close he is to blaze and he only taps him from behind in any case.
dRaSt1k bLazE vs fatal nation - lap 5 -
outcome: 5s & 1LP for fatal, dangerous driving. Loses control and cuts the track which collects blaze.
Golden egg fryer vs THAT GUY - lap 4 -
outcome: 5s&1LP for THAT GUY. Dangerous driving, loses control out of the final corner and collects golden egg fryer.
Dimplyhornet 862 vs THAT GUY - lap 4 -
outcome: 5s&1LP for THAT GUY. THAT GUY outbrakes himself, goes deep into the corner then spins Dimplyhornet862
Division 4
Qualifying got underway in grey dreary weather lightening up in Q3
Swinners had a strong start fastest lap Q1 and second fastest in Q2 and 3 just behind PrimusGaming who took pole.
The grid lined up with all but four on the softs.
Cxmzn span lap 1 dropping to last, by the end of lap 1 all the medium runners had dropped to the back of the grid with primus and swinners maintaining postion and Smithpdan in third already building a second gap to SLR Russell in 4th place.
the last corner of lap 3 saw SLR russell fell foul of the commentators curse hitting the pit lane entryway shortly after the commentators stated hes doing well. this caused the first safety car.
Lap 7 saw the race restart with PrimusGaming down in 5th as he stopped for mediums leaving swinners28 starting the race off again in pole.
Floesch madde an ambitious move on Swinners and spins in turn 1 dropping to last. F1 warhead took wing damage at the end of the DRS straight and limped to the pits, making contact with Vision in sector 3.
Primus worked his way back upto third by lap 10.
Lap 13 had marsh spin turn 1 SmitHPDan narrowly missed the car but xxxx Rosco xxxx hits it causing a second safety car and knocking him out of the race.
lap 16 PrimusGaming lead the restart as Swinners pitted for mediums, SLR Hicklin span turn 3 being hit by SLR Floersch.
Lap 18 saw Vision in 8th and Warhead going side by side through most of the track but Vision came out ontop and entered the pit.
Darkstorm took warhead on the straight and moved up into 8th.
Swinners took 2nd from bigbag the next lap going into turn 1. Bigbag pitted leaving beethoven in third.
Primus stayed out on mediums making them last an impressive 27 laps, puncuting the last lap.
lap 31 Warhead crashed out adn bounced back on track taking Maxwell out and causing the cars behind to take evasive action.
Beethoven takes over Primusgaming on the aged tyres taking second place.
over the line in lap 33.
Swinners took first, Beethoven 2nd from last, and PrimusGaming in third on 3 wheels for the second time this season.
Qualifying
Pole time: 1.17.398
1.PrimusGaming
2.Swinners28
3.SLR Marsh
4.SmitHPDanX01
5.SLR Russell
6.xxxxRoscoxxxx
7.Bigbag92
8.Stevobrick
9.Vision2614
10.SLR St2oH
11.F1 Warhead
12.SLR Hicklin
13.DarkstormQC
14.Maxwell
15.Cxmzn
16.SLR Floersch
17.Beethoven974
Race Finish
Fastest lap SmitHPDanX01 with 1.19.216
1.Swinners28
2.Beethoven974
3.PrimusGaming
4.SLR Hicklin
5.Stevobrick
6.DarkstormQC
7.Bigbag92 +3 sec
8.SmitHPDanX01
9.SLR Marsh
10.SLR Floersch
11.Vision2614
12. l 21 l Maxwell (DNF)
13. F1 Warhead (DNF)
14. SLR St2oH (RET)
15. xxxx Rosco xxxx (DNF)
16. l Cxmzn l (RET)
17. SLR Russell (DNF)
Incident 1: SLR Marsh vs l 21 l Maxwell - Lap 13, Causing a collision
Outcome: 5 second time penalty and 2 license points to l 21 l Maxwell
Reason: Marsh was significantly alongside and thus was entitled to space into T1, and on this occasion was not left room
Incident 2: SLR Marsh vs xxxxRoscoxxxx - Lap 13, Causing a collision
Outcome: No further action
Reason: This incident was only occurred because of incident 1, and thus neither driver is at fault. It should be noted that all drivers need to be aware of yellow flags, and the possibility of needing to take avoiding action or slowing down due to stranded cars to avoid further incidents
Incident 3: Vision2614 vs BigBag92 - Lap 1, Squeezing another car off track
Outcome: 3 second time penalty and 1 license point to BigBag92
Reason: BigBag92 is seemingly unaware of Vision, and leaves him no space once vision has his front wing alongside and continues moving despite there being another car there
Incident 4: Vision2614 vs F1 Warhead - Lap 7, Causing a collision
Outcome: 5 Second time penalty and 1 license point
Reason: Warhead moves across and makes contact with vision giving him damage to his front wing, all of which was easily avoidable.
Incident 5: Vision2614 vs SLR Hicklin - Lap 16, Causing a collision
Outcome: Racing Incident
Reason: Vision unfortunately has no where to go as Hicklin has spun and the path in which he spun is directly on Visions racing line
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