Season 8 is here!!! Is it? YEAH IT IS
We arrived to the Bahrain International Circuit for round 1 of this iteration of the SLR F2 championship where one of the favourites for the title this year BRT Griffiths would take pole position with the reining champion SLR Corey alongside. Special mention to BaggieFan who had reverse grid pole in Saõ Paulo would also have reverse grid pole for the sprint race.
Baggie and F1ABQW3RTYYwould be on the front row, and we were away for season 8!! A tough first lap for F1ABQW3RTYY would see him drop down to the back due to an unfortunate collision with OwenHowell36 who would slide his way into 2nd closing in on the man who had led for 3 laps BaggieFan!!! Corey would nail the VSC restart making his way past UKBeastAssassin into turn 1. Later on that lap Baggie’s amazing defence wasn’t enough for Owen as he would go through into the lead with Corey later sliding through. Owen wouldn’t put up too much of a defence on Corey as he would go into the lead with Owen’s new teammate BRT Griffiths also getting it through and the battle for the win was on. One driver who has mega pace throughout the pre season races, SLR Medal would also be making great progress making his way up to 4th and closing in on OwenHowell for the final podium position. Unfortunate contact between UKBeastAssassin and Ham would see the VAR of Ham round at the final corner and you don’t need VAR to check that one. The first race of the season goes to BRT Griffiths after clearing off up the road once taking the lead with SLR Corey and SLR Medal rounding out the podium. A great drive for two of the evo drivers in that race of OwenHowell36 who managed to pickup 4th place in the second of the Campos cars, and BaggieFan who managed to come home in 7th place after leading the race for the opening laps!!
We were underway for the opening feature race of the season, the top 5 remained as you were x. F1ABQW3RTYY had a great opening lap making his way up to 5th using the softer rubber to his advantage. But the lap to follow it all came undone for him as he would spin round and what looked to be good points coming for him looked out of sight now. A spin for OwenHowell at T4 as he struggled to get the power down and would need a mega drive to pickup any points now. Mash was also flying his way through aswell on soft tyres getting his Van Amersfoort up to 9th place. Bennett had a fantastic run going down into T4 making his way past EXho and Mash... all for a second as his braking point for the corner was in Barbados as he got close up to the wall on exit (Sorry Bennett x) but we did have some action at the front Ham and Medal would scrap it out for the final podium position with the pit stops quickly approaching with Medal coming out on top with Ham. Ham’s undercut would see him over a second clear of Medal but with Medal having rubber to spare later on could he catch and pass the VAR driver? And indeed he could and cleared off he did aswell pulling a 2.5 second gap. BRT Griffiths would start the season with a F2 grand slam taking all 39 points available with SLR Corey and SLR Medal making it the same podium as the sprint race. A mega recovery for OwenHowell who managed to climb his way back up to 9th taking a double evo victory aswell and BaggieFan taking the final point and getting a double points finish.
A dominant opening weekend for BRT Griffiths and Campos but the stars of the show have to be the two evo drivers of Owen and Baggie who is already having one of his best seasons and we’re already in round 1!!
Next time out we head to the Jeddah Cheese Circuit where we’ve got nothing but fantastic racing action the 3 previous visits we’ve had to the circuit. Until then, have a great week folks.
As you were, CM x
Blogs driver of the round: BaggieFan1995: Baggie would start the season in sublime fashion picking up reverse grid pole for the sprint and coming home in 7th place and a 10th place finish in the feature, proving that age is only a number and ageing like fine wine is the 55 year old x
Qualifying:
1 BRT Griffiths 1:40.475
2 SLR Corey
3 SLR Ham19
4 SLR Medal2533
5 SLR Southerner
6 SLR Dodgy
7 UKBeastAssassin
8 OwenHowell36
9 F1ABQW3RTYYY
10 BaggieFan1995
11 SquashyCheese62
12 SLR Bennett3810
13 SLR Jam40
14 SLR Mash
15 EchoPW94
16 SemmF1
17 HuskySaturn1943
18 SLR Allen
19 Coupe a Benz
20 F1 Warhead
Sprint race:
1 BRT Griffiths 1:44.734
2 SLR Corey
3 SLR Medal2533
4 OwenHowell36
5 SLR Southerner
6 BaggieFan1995
7 SLR Ham19
8 UKBeastAssassin 10s + 2LP
9 SLR Bennett3810
10 SLR Mash
11 SLR Jam40 5s + 1LP
12 Coupe a Benz
13 SLR Dodgy
14 EchoPW94
15 SquashyCheese62
16 F1 Warhead
17 F1ABQW3RTYYY
18 HuskySaturn1943 5s + 2LP
19 SLR Allen DNF
20 SemmF1 DNF
Sprint Race – Lap 1
SLR Allen v HuskySaturn1943
Outcome – 5 Sec Pen & 2LP to HuskySarurn1943
Husky completely misses his braking point into the first corner, causing minor wing damage to Allen by knocking him into the wall. More caution going into turn 1 on the opening lap needs to be shown.
Sprint Race – Lap 7
SLR Ham19 v UKBeastAssassin
Outcome – 10 Sec Pen & 2LP to UKBeastAssassin
Beast was carrying more speed into the corner than Ham and did not react in time. This led to Ham being spun and then Baggie driving into his sidepod, no fault can be given to Baggie for this. As a result of the spin it has resulted in damage for multiple cars, one receiving unrepairable floor damage. So following the stewarding guidelines the strong high penalty is justifiable.
Sprint Race – Lap 8
SLR Dodgy v SLR Jam40
Outcome – 5 Sec Pen & 1LP to SLR Jam40
As Jam is coming out of the corner his car kicks left and as a result catches Dodgy’s rear end. Resulting in a spin for Dodgy. Due to Dodgy not sustaining any damage and the nature of the contact with a wobble we feel a slightly more lenient penalty is justifiable.
Feature Race:
1 BRT Griffiths 1:42.066
2 SLR Corey
3 SLR Medal2533
4 SLR Ham19
5 SLR Southerner
6 UKBeastAssassin
7 SLR Dodgy
8 SLR Jam40
9 OwenHowell36
10 BaggieFan1995
11 EchoPW94
12 Coupe a Benz
13 SLR Mash
14 F1ABQW3RTYYY
15 HuskySaturn1943
16 F1 Warhead
17 SemmF1
18 SLR Bennett3810 DNF 3LP*
19 SquashyCheese62 DNF
20 SLR Allen DNF
Feature Race - Lap 2
SquashyCheese62 v SLR Bennett3810
Outcome - 5 Sec Pen & 2LP to SLR Bennett3810 > 3LP DUE TO DNF
Bennett misjudges his braking point knocking Cheese into the car ahead and causing minor wing damage. The secondary contact, albeit not intentional does result in Cheese being spun around too.
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