McKeon
Circuit Paul Ricard brought us a very interesting and unpredictable race in round 7 of the Mckeon division. This unpredictability came in the way of the weather.
Firstly q1, where it was dry until the last 5 minutes of the session. Whilst this didn’t massively affect the grid order, it would make for a fascinating q2 and q3. Q2 started off as intermediate conditions but the rain worsened as the session went on! This would catch a few drivers out big time, most notably last season’s French Grand Prix winner Crispy2001, who failed to get a lap in when the conditions were at their peak. He would start p14, which was a huge setback to his potential championship challenge.
Q3 started off wet but most drivers elected to stay in the pits as the weather forecast was for it to dry up right at the end of the session. Indeed it did dry up, making it a 1 shot qualifying. Championship leader bmidzy handled the pressure well, taking another pole position by 4 tenths. This was his 5th pole of the season! Lining up alongside him was Mr Ogween, with raceroller and ZyDRAD on the second row.
Onto the race, where rain was forecast in the latter stages. Most drivers played it safe and went for hards, with semm a noticeable exception on the mediums.
Onto the start, where Midzy was able to get a good launch and keep the lead from ogween. The mclaren would be in a league of his own, breaking the drs and leading every lap, winning the race!
The excitement however was in the battle for the positions behind him. Ogween seemed to struggle a bit for race pace causing there to be a massive train all the way from p2 to outside the points! This meant that any small mistakes and any penalties would be crucial. Semm and jibjab would be the first to pick up pens, as they both received 5s penalties for an ‘illegal overtake’ on a half spun car in turn 2. Nice one codemasters, nice one. This was a shame for both drivers, who had worked their way up into the top 6 early on.
These penalties and a spin for semm would promote some drivers who qualified low down to a decent position, most notably crispy. The haas driver found his way into the battle for the top 5 after an excellent hard stint.
Onto the second half of the race, where the drivers were counting down the laps until the rain. None more so than ZyDRAD and ogween, who had very high tyre wear. The rain would begin to fall on lap 20 and despite it not looking wet enough, zy had no choice but to pit due to his tyre wear! Just as well he did pit, as he got a puncture in the pit Lane before the tyres were changed! Disaster averted for zy but did he pit too early??? It looked for all the world like he did, however the rain intensified in the middle of lap 21, forcing everyone else in at the end of the lap. Turns out zy picked the perfect lap, undercutting raceroller, who had worked his way up into p2 due to Ogween’s tyre wear woes. Unfortunately for the S6 champion, he made a crucial error due to the conditions and sped into the pits! What was looking like an excellent podium turned into a disappointing top 6 instead.
Last few laps and midzy was well clear, with zy and roller in p2 and p3, but both with pens. Behind them were v2, ogween and crispy. V2 was looking good in the wet weather, and with 0 pens was set for p2. The final place on the podium was reliant on zy’s penalties and whether crispy could get past ogween, and when the alpha tauri driver picked up his second 3s pen and crispy also picked one up, that sealed the deal!
So the podium finishers were
Midzy p1
V2 p2
Ogween p3
Congratulations to them all
Honourable mention to merkz47 with his first points of the season!
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.28.744
1. BMidzy15
2. Mr Ogween
3. raceroller22
4. ZyDRAD
5. bezzas1
6. JibJab325
7. SLR Corey
8. PaRa Quickz
9. ETE Semm
10. V2 x Combat
11. II Division II
12. MeRkz47
13. VRA Andres
14. Crispy2001
15. KevinGT9389
16. ConnorW1537
17. II Monkeyy II
18. Riggsey x
19. ETE Crowding
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.31.134
1. BMidzy15
2. V2 x Combat
3. Mr Ogween77
4. ZyDRAD
5. bezzas1
6. Crispy2001
7. raceroller22
8. JibJba325
9 MeRkz47
10. II Monkeyy II
11. ConnorW1537
12. ETE Crowding +10 sec
13. II Division II
14. VRA Andres
15. Riggsey x
16. PaRa Quickz
17. SLR Corey +20 sec
18. KevinGT9389 (RET)
19. ETE Semm (RET)
Incident involving ETE Crowding & SLR Corey - Lap 17 (Causing a collision)
Outcome: ETE Crowding & SLR Corey both receive 10s time penalties + 2LP
Reason: After reviewing the evidence submitted for the incident, the stewards have determined that both drivers are equally at fault for the contact and subsequent spinning of both cars at T3.
Crowding gets half a car length alongside on the run down to T3, however, that corner is very unlikely to produce an overtake unless you are fully alongside another car. Given Crowding’s experience, he should know better than to leave a nose hanging in on the Williams, and this does cause in part the incident between both drivers.
However, the stewards also noted that Corey’s speed, and line going into T3 was completely wrong - which in part explains how Crowding goes from half a car length alongside to just the length of his front wing. He was never ever going to make the corner cleanly, as his trajectory at the point of impact was that of his car severely cutting T3. Undoubtedly, it can be argued that he therefore completely moved across the track in an erratic way to attempt to keep the position. Had he not done this, then crowding would take total blame, but to attempt the corner that quickly and with that line bewilders the stewards, and the contact is therefore equally Corey’s fault, as much as it is Crowding’s.
As a result, both drivers pick up the same penalty for causing a collision, which could easily have harmed other drivers’ races in different circumstances.
Incident involving SLR Corey & Para Quickz - Lap 1 (causing a collision)
Outcome: 10s + 2LP awarded to SLR Corey for causing a collision
Reason: heading into T1, SLR Corey moves across Para heading into the T1 braking zone, forcing the Haas driver into a half spin across the track into the wall. From the evidence provided, while it is recognised that the run down to T1 will always be cramped, there was no excuse to move over in this fashion when the car to Corey’s left also held position on the inside line. As a result, with it being a T1 incident, some leniency is given, but Corey is still 100% at fault, and receives a further 10 second penalty along with 2LP.
Division 1
Bonjour to the French Grand prix in division 1. After everyone involved with the championship battle having a bad day in Baku certain drivers would need to bounce back, would that be the case?
However, SLR Cech championship leader and p3 in the standings Arb0n EPA not racing this weekend meant a huge opportunity for 2nd placed man Jito DV to capitalise on this. However, the Red Bull driver after his antics last time out had a qauli ban and the race didn't go much better couldn't get through traffic and to rub salt into the wounds crashed on lap 23 and also wouldn't leave France with any points.
With all that being said the battle at the front took a massive turn 1 lap 1 with the two Alpha Tuaris of Qauttro and J Lee Menz aswell as a star performer in recent weeks DPT Alife and reserve Leviking all involved in a massive crash which left pole sitter FRA adzz out in the lead on mediums with soft runners behind him of SimbarocksONE and Elite riskz who are both looking to restart there championship charges after issues of their own in recent races in p3 and p2.
On lap 5 adzz would get out of the DRS window of Elite as the softs pace on the Ferrari started fall off the cliff and that would allow simba to get into p2 after passing the ferrari on the main DRS straight which was the only move really of the first stint between the front runners as it was mainly a train of the top 4 with tooman hanging in there in his Alfa Romeo.
After pit stops it would be a 3 way battle for the lead between the hard runners of adzz and simba aswell as the medium runner tooman as he took his soft tyres all the way to the end of lap 8. All 3 drivers where in the lead at different stages however it would be the fresher tyres adzz that would prevail getting a fantastic victory and his first this season. Simba would get a crucial p2 and with the top 3 scoring 0 his 18 points puts himself firmly in the championship hunt. Tooman just fell away in the end put still gets p3 and the commentators DOTD. Elite riskz would have to settle for p6 after losing 5 positions on lap 26 to drop to p9 and lost another position on the final lap but gained 4 positions back with no penalties.
Jensen gets p4 in his first race back since week 1 in Bahrain after a solid drive and the division 1 debutant this week JPF1 gets a respectable p7.
Austria next week let's see if simba can continue his momentum or can Cech or any of the Red bulls get back to winning ways
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.28.698
1. FRA Adzzz
2. DPT Alfie
3. ELiTE x Riskz
4. SimbarocksONE
5. ETSR Jensen2508
6. LeviKing16
7. ARL Tooman
8. SLR Quattro
9. ShutMedal
10. J Lee Menz
11. DPT Moneybag
12. SLR Ham19
13. DPT Paul
14. ZachIsBeast25
15. JP JF1
16. SLR Barlow
17. Jito DV
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.30.661 DPT Alfie
1. FRA Adzzz
2. SimbarocksONE
3. ARL Tooman
4. ETSR Jensen2508
5. LeviKing16
6. ELiTE x Riskz
7. ShutMedal
8. SLR Ham19
9. SLR Quattro
10. JPJF1 +5 sec
11. DPT Alfie
12. ZachIsBeast25
13. DPT Paul
14. SLR Barlow (DNF)
15. Jito DV (DNF)
16. J Lee Menz (RET)
17. DPT Moneybag (DSQ)
JPJF1 vs SLR Ham19
Outcome: racing incident
Reason: we feel like there was room to the right hand side of the curb and could of avoided the incident
ZachisBeast vs JPJF1
Outcome: 5s and 1LP to JPJF1
Reason: impeding another driver who was on a flying lap
Division 2
We welcome you to the beautiful south of France for round 7 of the division 2 championship.
Q1 went by in a flash and proved to be a incredibly tight affair. The top 15, the drivers going into Q2, was covered by just 4 tenths of a second which is crazy to see. Showing us that this could be a very tight Q2&3 unless Mother Nature has anything to say about it.
Q2 began and the clouds had gathered which launched the pit lane into a frenzy as all the drivers rushed to get a lap in. It was almost like a racing lap on the out lap as the rain started to come down. There was even contact between a few drivers as they battled for track position.
AdrianVIII and OwenHowell36 got caught out entirely and weren’t able to set a lap.
By the time Q3 began the heavens had opened and the full wets were required. So what was set up as a tight shoot out for pole in Q1 was now a showcase of who is a master in the wet. I VR46 I proved to be that man by taking pole position. He is joined on the front row by his teammate VapidCoot74 so providing Alfa Romeo with a front row lock out.
As the lights go out VapidCoot74 gets a stronger launch than his teammate alongside him and takes the lead before they even get into turn 1. Unfortunately for last weeks race winner Ellis37 further down the field he gets caught in a gap that was always closing and ends up facing the wrong way.
Still on lap 1 as we reach the chicane on the back straight we have our first contact, of many here, when SLR Allen attempts a move on SLR Liamm for P3. Allen is pushed off track and from this drops down to P9. The midfield battle is ferocious one this week and it’s not long till we have another car facing the wrong way. This time it is CSCMorris after a coming together with MasonGammon05.
By lap 3 the two Alfa Romeo drivers have managed to build themselves a nice 2 second gap to the chasing pack. With DRS now activated the battles throughout the field begin to heat up. SLR Liamm and Shaggy653 have a coming together when battling for P3 and drop down the field. SLR Morgan ends up inheriting P3, a position at the moment seems to be cursed. This contact also bunched the midfield up and we end the lap with 4 cars within one another’s DRS to squabble over third.
For the final half of lap 5 there is a brilliant battle involving 5 cars for P7. ARL PReDaToRZz is the man that wins out big from this with some outstanding driving. He managed to jump from P10 into P7. Now there had to be a loser in all of this and that was SLR Moley who ended up dropping from P8 to P11 on the final corner.
At this point the race entered into a tyre management stage where the couple of soft runners pitted and those that started on mediums tried to persevere their tyres for as long as possible. There are a few minor position changes through DRS in the midfield but no crazy going ons.
Lap 10 comes and the first of the medium runners begin to pit. By lap 12 all of the field have been in to change tyres, tyres they’ll be aiming to finish the race on, apart from two drivers. ARL PReDaToRZz on medium tyres and OwenHowell36 on hard tyres. Both seem set to stretch their starting tyres for as long as possible and utilise fresh softs towards the end. With this they inherit P1 and P2 respectively.
Lap 16 and OwenHowell36 has managed to overtake ARL PReDaToRZz for the lead of the Grand Prix, of course yet to pit. Tucked up less than a 6 seconds behind are the two Alfa Romeo drivers who have controlled the race brilliantly. They’ve got a multiple second gap to the pack behind or are stick fighting over net P3. Due to the lack of a safety car it seems all drivers are struggling with ERS management and there are signs this could turn the excitement levels down.
ARL PReDaToRZz finally pits on Lap 18 off what I am sure would have been a set of medium tyres close to failure. He rejoins in P13 and manages to get straight up into P12. OwenHowell36 follows suit and pits on lap 19. He rejoins in P11 just ahead of ARL PReDaToRZz. Now the fight is on for the pair to see how high they can climb on those fresh softs. This of course means the Alfa Romeo drivers retake P1 and P2. They have a 1.6 second gap to the pack of 4 cars behind who are all fighting over P3.
Straight away on lap 19 OwenHowell36 puts his new softs to use and manages to overtake both Aston Martin drivers through the chicane on the back straight. There is slight contact with Ellis37 but doesn’t cause either driver to spin out.
Lap 23, the Alfa Romeo’s are still in cruise control at the front of the field. We get our first on track retirement in the form of SLR Morgan which I am sure would have made the Alfa drivers sweat a little but there was no safety car released for this incident. At the same time legendarydannyd and Adrian VIII have a coming together when battling for P7, this drops legendarydannyd down into P10. OwenHowell36 utilises the contact to jump the pair into P7.
The final lap approaches and unless there is a absolute capitulation on the final lap the Alfa Romeo team have this in the bag. The battle for P3 is down to 2 drivers, MasonGammon05 who is holding P3 going into the final lap and SLR Liamm. The gap is less than half a second so the question is has SLR Liamm kept enough battery in reserve to make a move.
SLR Liamm spins! Disaster strikes the McLaren driver on the arching right hander before the back straight as his rear tyres just seem to give up and he’s left facing the wrong way. Something that all but secures P3 for MasonGammon05 and drops SLR Liamm into P8.
So as the drivers cross the line it is indeed a P1 and P2 finish for the Alfa Romeo drivers. They managed to convert a front row lock out into a very dominant race win, just with the roles reversed from Qualifying. VapidCoot73 is the man to take the top spot just showing that a race can be won into the first corner. I VR46 I comes home in second and MasonGammon05 does indeed come home P3 to complete the podium. The drivers on the alternate strategy in ARL PReDaToRZz and OwenHowell36 managed to battle their way through the pack to a P5 and P6 finish respectively.
Thank you for joining and we look forward to next week where we head to the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.39.907
1. IVR46I
2. VapidCoot74
3. SLR Liamm
4. SLR Allen
5. Shaggy653
6. SLR Morgan
7. SLR Moley
8. Ellis 37
9. MasonGammon07
10. CSCMorris
11. LSW L3g3nd 44
12. legendarydannyd
13. ARL PReDaToRZz
14. Adrian VIII
15. OwenHowell36
16. Darren I 22
17. SouthRaptor966
18. BadOtterTV
19. PrimusGaming
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.31.425 Darren I 22
1. VapidCoot74
2. IVR46I
3. Shaggy653
4. ARL PReDaToRZz
5. OwenHowell36
6. Adrain VIII
7. MasonGammon05 +10 sec
8. SLR Liamm
9. LSW L3G3ND44
10. SLR Moley
11. SLR Allen
12. legendarydannyd
13. Ellis 37
14. BadOtterTV
15. SouthRapor966
16. Darren I 22
17. CSCMorris
18. SLR Morgan (DNF)
19. PrimusGaming (RET)
Incident 1:
SLR Morgan reset to track - 15s and 3LP (QB due to DNF) to SLR Morgan.
Resetting to track is not allowed.
Incident 2:
Owen Vs Shaggy - 3LP to Shaggy due to the collision occurring during qualifying.
All cars are rushing to start laps due to the changing conditions. There is a clear lack of awareness from Shaggy as from Owen’s POV there is plenty of space for him to get through.
OFFICIAL WARNING FOR SHAGGY FOR ACCUMULATING 6LP
Incident 3:
Ellis Vs Morgan - NFA
There was no visible contact between the cars from the evidence provided and the contact that was shown was minimal and accidental.
Incident 4:
Mason Vs CSCMorris - 10s and 2LP to Mason for spinning another car.
Mason turns in on the racing line without leaving sufficient room for Morris who is entitled to space.
Incident 5:
BadOtter Vs PrimusGaming - 10s and 2LP (QB due to DNF) to PrimusGaming for spinning another car.
Otter isn’t left sufficient racing room in turn 2 despite battling with Primus.
Division 3
In Division 3 this week we were greeted with the eminent arrival of rain in Q1 and then a wet Q2 and Q3 which saw championship leader SLR Charlie take pole, Bcfc Josh joined him on the front row. With dimplyhornet and SLR Leah lining up on the second row.
To the race then eventually…
Clean getaway from Charlie in front and built a lead to get out of drs. SLR dosser was the fast starter gaining 8 positions in the opening couple of laps.
A drs train formed over the next few laps. Dosser made another move forward on Alpeh but then spun unfortunately for him. Alpeh and teammate SLR Leah switched places as Alpeh had more pace at this stage. The a huge turn of events as SLR Charlie out front lost it which saw him out of the race and a safety car.
The whole field pit at this stage for some fresh boots. With the alpha tauri’s double stacking SLR EVVO moved up to P2 for the restart with 14 laps to go. Active jmc and SLR were battling for P3 and ended both costing them time to the front two.
Further back dimplyhornet and SLR xhaka we’re going toe to toe for p7 and also dosser making moves recovering from spinning earlier on. Swinners28 debuting after promotion from div 4 was also working his way forward showing he’s definitely in the right division now.
With a few laps to was a fair few position changes with multiple drivers spinning and a few de sync issues. But a great fight for P3 between active jmc, Swinners and thatguy which then led to Swinners getting up into P3.
We didn’t see him for much of the race but it was Alpeh who took the chequered flag. And the fastest lap also. SLR EVVO P2. Swinners with the debut podium in 3rd. SLR Leah 4th. Lots of changes with track limit penalties. But Samlamenace P5. Ssr halo P6, gregers Uk P7. Dimplyhornet P8, thatguy P9 and GoldenEggFryer picking up the final point.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.40.658
1. SLR CHARLIE1
2. BcfcJosh1232752
3. DimplyHornet862
4. SLR Leah
5. Alpeh
6. Swinners28
7. SLR EVVO
8. Active JMC
9. SLR Xhaka
10. THATGUY691244
11. SSR Halo
12. Gregers UK
13. Samlamenace
14. SLR Dosser
15. Chicken Rosery
16. GoldenEggFryer
17. skullkiller1014
18. dRaSt1k bLazE
19. WraithXF
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.32.481
1. Alpeh
2. SLR EVVO
3. Swinners28
4. SLR Leah
5. Samlamenace
6. SSR Halo
7. Gregers UK
8. DimplyHornet862 +3 sec
9. THATGUY691244
10. GoldenEggFryer
11. dRaSt1k bLazE
12. SLR Xhaka
13. WraithXF
14. Active JMC (RET)
15. skullkiller1014 (RET)
16. SLR Dosser (RET)
17. ChicknRosery (RET)
18. Bcfcjosh1232752 (RET)
19. SLR CHARLIE1 (DNF)
20. MVT Hurww (DNS)
Dimplyhornet vs SLR Xhaka - lap 21 -
Outcome - no further action. Following the sad state of the game at the moment with the de-sync issues and watching the defence clip unfortunately this de-sync glitch happened in this instance therefore there’s not a lot we can do.
dRaSt1K bLazE vs DimplyHornet862
Outcome 3s penalty & 1LP to DimplyHornet862 for overtaking under the safety car. reminder that you should never overtake under the safety car.
Warning to dRaSt1K blaze, narrowly escaping a penalty a reminder that you should never be going unnecessarily slow under the safety car.
DimplyHornet862 vs SLR Xhaka
Outcome - 3s Penalty and 1lp
After reviewing the evidence the stewards have decided to award the penatly to SLR Xhaka as the red arrows on his screen show that DimplyHornet862 was on the inside and he didn't leave him enough room to take the corner and contact was made causing DimplyHornet862 to spin
Division 4
Qualifying on Paul Ricard saw a strange set of times in mixed weather conditions and Bigbag gaining pole.
The First lap started off exciting with a few drivers gaining places in the first chicane Popcornjoe spinning and losing his place back to 14th in turn 8 as Bigbag created a larger lead from pole.
Lap 2 saw maxwell get spin around coming upto the last corner dropping him to 12th.
as the drivers looked ready to settle into their positions with an uneventful lap 3 Baggiefan crashed out in lap 4, being the first driver out of this Grand Prix.
At the end of lap 5 Race leader Bigbag entered the pits, leading the other soft starters in, meanwhile on track Pazuzu started to make moves on Rosco by the time lap 7 came around.
the pack maintained their positions with Russell and Cxmzn battling in lap 9 russell being spun around and crashing out causing a safety car.
The race restarted with Timole in front of the former race leader marsh and Pazuzu hungry for second place.in lap 15 Pazuzu made the move whilst timole created a massive lead on the soft compound, only to pit and concede the place.
Marsh kept temporarily taking back the place only for pazuzu to push back into first.
lap 25 marsh finally made the move stick with only 2 laps to go, and SmitHPDan keeping up in 3rd, a far cry from his 14th place start on the grid.
Finally when Corner cutting and other penalties were accounted for Marsh first on track but only gaining third place, Pazuzufirst and SmitHPDan an amazin 14th to 2nd.
Qualifying
Pole time:1.40.173
1.Bigbag92
2.DarkstormQC
3.xxxx rosco xxxx
4.SLR Marsh
5.maxwell
6.Timole2511
7.Rsf1 Pazuzu
8.SLR Russell
9.PopcornJoe5822
10.SLR St2oH
11.Cxmzn
12.Baggiefan
13.Stevobrick
14.SmitHPDanX01
15.SLR Floersch
Race Finish
Fastest lap 1.33.601
1.Rsf1 Pazuzu
2.SmitHPDanX01
3.Bigbag92
4.DarkstormQC
5.SLR Marsh
6.maxwell
7.Cxmzn
8.Timole2511
9.SLR St2oH
10.Stevobrick
11.PopcornJoe5822
12.xxxx rosco xxxx
13. SLR Russell (DNF)
14. SLR Floersch (RET)
15. Baggiefan 1995 (DNF)
Incident 1: SLR Marsh vs l 21 l Maxwell - Lap 2, Causing a collision/spinning another car
Outcome: Racing Incident
Reason: SLR Marsh has left a cars width to his left, and l 21 l Maxwell understeers on corner exit which causes the collision and unfortunately l 21 l Maxwell's car spins out.
Incident 2: SLR Floersch vs PopcornJoe5822 - Lap 1, Dangerous Re-entry
Outcome: A warning and 1 License Point to PopcornJoe5822
Reason: Any car looking to re-enter the track must wait for the track to be clear. PopcornJoe5822 had started moving forward on the track whilst cars were passing. In this instance no collisions happened but PopcornJoe5822 should have waited for a suitable gap.
Stewards Note: The stewards noted a car cutting a corner of the track without real need. The driver in question did receive an in-game warning and surrendered a position gained/held by doing this. Any drivers caught doing this may be subject to further penalty if reported, so please keep your cars within track limits.
Note: PopcornJoe5822 has now reached the license point threshold for an Official Warning for driving standards
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