This weeks race in Elite yet again saw Hoopolicious dominate in qualifying with his second pole in as many weeks, championship protagonist JamHam lined up 2nd with Midzy15 in 3rd.
The race however was a different story with JamHam taking the lead after the pit stops and holding onto first until lap 25 when a controversial incident with Hoopolicious saw the Ferrari overtake the Williams but receive a 5 second penalty demoting him to 3rd as he was deemed to have been at fault when the stewards met on Tuesday evening.
So JamHam took the win from Ham, the gap at the top is now 49 points with 4 races to go with Ham securing his 5 podium in a row to maintain his sizeable gap at the top.
FRA Freeman finished in P4 with RyanJones in 5th. ZyDRAD came home in 6th but is now looking unlikely to challenge for the title after some bad luck in the past few weeks.
Midzy finished 7th after penalties with Snypz yet again scoring points for McLaren in P8. After an incident on the last lap Raceroller recovered to 9th while SLR Smoke took the final points paying position in P10.
So it’s looking like another Ham vs Jam battle for the championship with only 4 rounds to go, can Ham go one better than last season or will Jam win back to back titles?
Next up is the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, are we going to see an American driver on the top step of the podium? Only time will tell.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.25.552
1. Hoopolicious
2. Xx JamHam xX
3. Midzy15
4. FRA Freeman9
5. Ryan Jones123
6. Hamjam2002
7. raceroller22
8. ZyDRAD
9. SLR Darnell
10. bezzas1
11. SLR Smoke68
12. UKBeastAssassin
13. Snypz SB
14. MeRkz47
15. Jito DV
16. SLR Dylan
17. SLR Niki
18. PaRa Quickz
19. BDunk
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.27.573 SLR Darnell
1. Xx JamHam xX
2. HamJam2002
3. Hoopolicious +5 sec
4. FRA Freeman9
5. Ryan Jones123
6. ZyDRAD
7. Midzy15
8. Snypz SB
9. raceroller22
10. SLR Smoke68
11. Jito DV
12. BDunk
13. SLR Darnell
14. PaRa Quickz
15. SLR Dylan
16. UKBeastAssassin
17. MeRkz47
18. SLR Niki (DNF)
19. bezzas1 (DNF)
SLR Smoke68
Outcome: no penalty
Reason: He looked at discord and saw the start time but it was later changed and of course he won't look at discord again. Its such a special circumstance were the start time is changed after being announced.
NOTE: If everyone waits to ready up until the head admin actually does regardless of the time we will avoid these kind of situations.
UKBeastAssassin vs Jito DV
Outcome: racing incident
Reason: Its the nature of turn 1 in Japan, he leaves as much room as he can without going wide unfot´rtunatley it wasn't enough.
SLR Darnell vs Para Quickz hairpin
Outcome: +5 sec 1LP PaRa Quickz
Reason: Moving under braking
SLR Darnell vs PaRa Quickz spoon
Outcome: racing incident
Reason: Impossible to go 2 wide into spoon and overtaking round the outside won't happen. The car on the inside owns the corner and SLR Darnell should have yielded.
Hoopolicious vs Xx JamHam xX
Outcome: +5 sec 1LP Hoopolicious
Reason: After a long discussion a vote ended with 3-2 in favor of Xx JamHam xX. Hoopolicious overtake is a consequence of him hitting Xx JamHam xX on the exit of the hairpin and thereby compromising his exit speed giving himself the chance to overtake.
The Japanese Grand Prix brought late drama with the rain starting to come down it was Riggs who won the race and the Pole sitter Kolka fighting for the win along with Clock who finished 2nd with kolka picking up an ingame pen causing her to finish 3rd it became about who could survive in the rain.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.25.975
1. SLR Kolka
2. tooman3sweets
3. Riggsey x
4. SotierClock110
5. Brindyboi67
6. SLR Liamm
7. BlandSiamang908
8. JH199
9. Lewisod
10. zZSouthernerZz
11. CechThisOut
12. SillyBunny47711
13. Lil Wiggy
14. ARL PReDaToRZz
15. SLR Morgan
16. JibJab325
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:29.578 CechThisOut
1. Riggsey x
2. SotierClock110
3. SLR Kolka
4. zZSouthernerZz
5. BrindyBoi67
6. JH199
7. JibJab325
8. SLR Liamm
9. CechThisOut (FL)
10. Lewisod
11. BlandSiamang908 (+10s)
12. SillyBunny47711 (DNF)
13. ARL PReDaToRZz (DNF)
14. SLR Morgan (DNF)
15. tooman3sweets (DNF)
16. Lil Wiggyy (DNF
BlandSiamang908
Outcome: +10s + 2LP
Reason: cutting the track excessively in qualifying
CechThisOut vs Lewisod
Outcome: no action taken
Reason: CechThisOut is unfortunately just in the wrong place at the wrong time - there is nothing that Lewisod could have done to avoid CechThisOut.
In Division Two this week we could have seen the first F1 Champion on Season 5 as bennett628 had to win with MRC R Leah scoring 5 points or less.
The latter was one of nine unfortunate retirements during the race after he collected the spun round jacksondog123, which meant all bennett628 had to do to win the title was win the race. He was 4 seconds short, as SLR Semm picked up win number 4 of the season and his third in the last 4 races ahead of ChickeN FikR, who finished first on track but track limit penalties set him down. bennett628 would still finish P3 to get his 11th podium of the season in what was very much a survival of the fittest race.
After outscoring his championship rival by 15 points this weekend, bennett628 now needs to score just 5 points in the final 4 races to confirm the title. That means with 8th place and fastest lap in USA he can become champion. MRC R Leah needs to win on Saturday and hope that the McLaren driver finishes outside of the top 8.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.26.263
1. ChickeN FikR
2. SLR Semm
3. bennett628
4. DnK Rando18
5. rockamad73
6. Coupe a Benz
7. MRC R Leah
8. ZachIsbeast25
9. AG II Panther
10. PlainTeddy24
11. SLR Barlow
12. SLR Owenn
13. SSR Halo
14. SLR icallum
15. PPR Venom
16. SLR Hicklin
17. Cosmic Cameron9
18. dRaSt1k bLazE
19. SLR Nealix
20. jacksondog123
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:28.943 - PlainTeddy24
1. SLR Semm
2. ChickeN FikR
3. bennett628
4. DnK Rando18
5. AG ll Panther
6. SSR Halo (-5s)
7. dRaSt1k bLazE
8. ZachIsBeast25
9. PlainTeddy24 (FL)
10. SLR Hicklin (+15s)
11. Cosmic Cameron9 (+15s)
12. SLR Nealix (DNF)
13. SLR iCallum (DNF)
14. Coupe a Benz (DNF) (+5s added onto next race)
15. jacksondog123 (DNF)
16. MRC R Leah (DNF)
17. PPR Venom (DNF)
18. SLR Owenn (DNF)
19. rockamad73 (DNF)
20. SLR Barlow (DNF)
Leah vs Cameron
Outcome - 15 seconds and 3LP for Cameron
Reason - Major wing damage caused by a brake check
iCallum vs Benz
Outcome - Racing Incident
Reason - Both drivers could have done more to avoid the collision
Nealix vs Hicklin
Outcome - 15 seconds and 3LP for Hicklin
Reason - Major wing damage caused by a unnecessarily slow moving car
Zach vs Benz
Outcome - 5 sec pen + 1LP
Reason - Squeezing with no damage
Zach vs Blaze
Outcome - Racing Incident
Reason - Hard Racing without serious collisions
Owen vs Venom
Outcome - Racing incident
Reason - the positioning of the red bull causes the collision.
jacksondog123
Outcome: qualifying ban +7 LP readying up early on grid
Halo vs Teddy
Outcome - 5sec pen removed from Halo
Reason - Game glitch as we can’t see contact with Plainteddy.
Round 17 in the land of the rising sun at Suzuka and there was plenty happening from the off. Lap 1 saw battles all over the field as SLR Colden had an incident at the hairpin of turn 10 taking wing damage. This was followed by Lofty4794 and x J Geddes x making contact at turn 13 with Lofty4794 spinning onto the grass dropping to P19. At the end of lap 1 it was x J Geddes x and Aflyinglemon318 both pitting to repair damage as SLR Colden elected to stay out. A safety car was then called on lap 2 as l Russell l9008 crashed out on the S bends of sector 1 ending his race with terminal damage. This then saw very early pitstops from race leader SLR B33n and 2nd placed Craigfk as they both went onto the hard tyres to run until the end of the race. There were also 5 other drivers opting for the early pit stop as SLR Gareth, Cal Smith F1, Jon5y & Lofty4794 all opting for the hard tyres with GrumpyOrange976 opting for the mediums. The safety car came in at the end of lap 4 and it was race leader Crafti3stJ3st3r who got the race underway again with Sphh and SLR Hyperz giving close chase. At the end of lap 6 championship rivals SLR B33n in P11 and Craigfk in P12 were battling to pass each other and SLR Stevoo in P10 as SLR B33n made the pass into P10 ahead of the final chicane leaving Craigfk stuck behind SLR Stevoo in P12 heading into lap 7. At the end of lap 8 Craigfk then tried to make another pass on SLR Stevooo at the final chicane only to be pushed back into the start of lap 8. The overtake finally coming into T1 moving Craigfk into P11. The end of lap 9 then saw Sphh in P2 make the first moves of the soft runners making his pit stop onto medium tyres looking to get the undercut on Crafti3stJ3st3r and SLR Hyperz. Crafti3stJ3st3r then made his stop on lap 10 to cover off the move from SPhh which left SLR Hyperz to lead the race into lap 11 with SLR st2oh in P2 & Dingledolphin86 in P3.
A mistake from SLR Hyperz at the hairpin then saw him pick up some wing damage losing P1 & P2 to SLR st2oh and Dingledolphin86 in sector 3 up towards 130R. However, as SLR Hyperz turned in for 130R he had to slow due to damage and this saw Scott85laney make contact with the rear end and he ended up spinning out in P4 just missing SLR B33n as he spun out losing positions and ending down in 14th. SLR Hyperz then had to pit due to his wing damage which mean he lost out on track position and returned to the race in P13. By the end of lap 12 the race leader was SLR st2oh with Dingledolphin86 in P2 with early pit stop runners SLR B33n in P3 and Craigfk in P4. Lap 13 and SLR B33n made a move into P2 past Dingledolphin86 at the end of the straight into T1 with Craigfk following immediately behind in P4. It was the end of lap 13 when Craigfk was able to take P3 after making a move past Dingledolphin86 in sector 3 towards 130R. Race leader SLRSt2oh then came in for his pitstop at the end of lap 13 meaning the race leader was now SLR B33n with Craigfk tucked in behind in P2. Dingledolphin86 in P4 then followed SLR St2oh into the pitlane pushing SLR Dodgy up into P3 as he was racing his first race on the wheel. The end of lap 15 then saw 3rd place SLR Dodgy come in for his mandatory pitstop moving Cal Smith F1 up into P3 to chase the leaders.
Lap 22 then saw a connection issue as 2nd placed Craigfk dropped from the session with Cal Smith F1 taking advantage and taking P2 ahead of the hairpin turn with Craigfks AI controlled car then opting to pit dropping him down to P7. Lap 24 then saw Crafti3stJ3st3r taking P3 from SLR Gareth as Craigfks AI car then pitted again ruining his race as he ended up back down in 13th. Lap 25 then saw Scott85laney end his race at the 2nd Denga as he smashed into the wall getting terminal damage. The end of the race then saw a win for SLR b33n with Cal Smith F1 in 2nd and Crafti3stJ3st3r in 3rd. SLR Gareth took 4th, DaredPaul1986 5th, SLR Hyperz was 6th, SLR Dodgy 7th, Lofty4794 was 8th, Dingledolphin86 9th and SLR Colden made up the top 10.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.27.142
1. SLR b33n
2. Crafti3stJ3st3r
3. craigfk
4. Sphh
5. SLR Hyperz
6. SLR Gareth
7. dingledolphin86
8. DaredPual1986
9. GrumoyOrange976
10. SLR COLDEN
11. Cal Smith F1
12. x J GEDDES x
13. Lofty4794
14. SLR Dodgy
15. Scott85Laney
16. JON5Y
17. SLR St2oH
18. SLR Stevooo
19. Aflyinglemon318
20. I Russell I9008
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.29.303 craigfk
1. SLR b33n
2. Cal Smith F1
3. Crafti3stJ3ster
4. SLR Gareth
5. DaredPaul1986
6. SLR Hyperz
7. SLR Dodgy
8. Lofty4794
9. dingledolphin86
10. SLR COLDEN
11. Sphh
12. x J GEDDES x
13. craigfk
14. SLR Stevooo
15. SLR St2oH
16. Aflyinglemon318
17. SLR St2oH
18. GrumpyOrange976
19. Scott85Laney (DNF)
20. I Russell I9008 (DNF)
Scott85Laney vs lofty
OUTCOME: No further action
REASON: lofty is not considered to be blocking. Laney catches up due to being on the faster tyre.
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