McKeon
Round 15 of the SLR McKeon championship is at Suzuka, Japan. An iconic track for F1 and SLR, it has been host to many good races in the past, and hopefully, this race will be just as good. With the gap at the top of the driver's championship massively cut down, will Corey be able to gain more on Snypz or will the leader find his feet and keep the gap?
Qualifying was a dry one with many finding it hard to perfect the fast twists and bends it would be BMidzy to take Pole Position! Another pole for the McLaren driver, an excellent result for him, puts him in a perfect position to go ahead and win this race with how hard it is to overtake around here, so he really has a chance to go and win this. Second place in the end was SLR Corey. Rounding off the top 3 was raceroller22. Another strong quali from the Mercedes driver has been a tough season for him so far. Still, these last two races have definitely been a spurt of the credentials he definitely has in this league, which is good to see him do, and hopefully this time out he can have as good of a race as he did last time out.
The race was also dry meaning all the drivers would have to contend with the drains of DRS which are common here due to the difficulty to make a move and with all the action and strategy it would be SimbarocksONE to take his first victory of the season! A wonderful overtake on the final lap would sum up a solid race from the Alpine driver, a race I feel has been coming with a few missed opportunities but he’s finally made it work. Second place, in the end, was BMidzy, gaining a spot from a TMS SORA penalty post-race, 2nd will be welcome for Midzy from a strong quali, he may be sad about not winning but certainly can be happy about another podium and some more points and a much improved set of form in recent races raises him higher in the driver's championship. Rounding off the podium places was Snypz SB, another strong drive from the championship leader, always finding a way to score in races he may not have the pace in and gaining some valuable points on Corey to extend the lead again which will certainly help his case as the races begin to dwindle.
A fascinating race culminating in a fantastic last lap overtake to seal the win, Japan always brings a fantastic race. Next time out will be a first visit to the Losail International Circuit, Qatar. A very tricky track for track limits, not many places to rest, and many corners that are hard to master, I'm sure will give much entertainment in the quali and in the race, but until then i hope everyone has a great week!
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 1:26.217
1. BMidzy
2. SLR Corey
3. raceroller22
4. Gorzi
5. SLR Ham19
6. SimbarocksONE
7. drast1k bLazE
8. Snypz SB
9. Jacobb F1
10. SLR Jam40
11. Crispy2001
12. SLR Medal2533
13. SemmF1
14. SparksYT15
15. Riggsey x
16. TMS SORA
17. MeRkz47
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:28.039 SLR Corey
1. SimbarocksONE
2. BMidzy
3. Snypz SB
4. drast1k bLazE
5. MeRkz47
6. SLR Jam40
7. SLR Medal2533
8. SLR Ham19 +5sec
9. Crispy2001
10. TMS SORA +10sec
11. Jacobb F1
12. SLR Corey
13. SparksYT15 +10sec
14. Gorzi (DNF)
15. Riggsey x (DNF)
16. raceroller22 (DNF)
17. SemmF1 (DNF)
Incident 1
Raceroller vs SLR Ham - Lap 1 - Spinning Another Car
Outcome: 5s Time Penalty + 1LP to SLR Ham
Reason: SLR Ham hits the back of Roller not expecting him to brake so early but being that close you still need to be aware of the car in front being cautious going into turn 1 lap 1 and Ham did end up spinning Roller around
Incident 2
SLR Semm vs TMS Sora - Lap 2 - Causing A Collision
Outcome: 10s Time Penalty + 2LPs to TMS Sora
Reason: First part of the sequence was good side by side driving and then Sora just keeps his nose in when the position was lost and ends up spinning semm and then just trying to drive through him and it ends up putting semm into the wall and giving him wing damage
Incident 3
SLR Corey vs SparksYT15 - Lap 24 - Causing A Collision
Outcome: 10s Time Penalty + 2LPs to SparksYT15
Reason: Sparks gets a good exit out of the final chicane but he goes to the inside of Corey trying to go into a gap that just wasn't there and ends up spinning Corey around and put him into the wall giving him wing damage
SparksYT15 receives a official warning from the stewards due to accumulating 6LPs.
Division 2
Japan, home to many famous places and landmarks, but none more famous than the Suzuka circuit that the SLR Division 2 drivers would be taking on.
Qualifying
With dry conditions in quali and wet seemingly looming for the race, most drivers would be having to make some sort of compromise to be better off for the race. And amongst those adjustments, Coutinho in the McLaren would take pole, with Haze claiming second, championship leader Kirito in third, QWERTY in fourth and ThatGuy in 5th. Quali ban merchant JMC would be serving yet another this weekend.
The Race
Despite how wet it was, most drivers opted to go to the extreme tyre, with the exceptions being Kirito in 3rd, Ski in 9th and Codzilla in 15th.
And as the 5 lights went out, 2 decided to go before anyone else and too early for the game's liking, both Owen and Clock receiving drive through penalties as a result!
And as expected, the first safety car period was active with debris presumably caused by Legend, and maybe with an influence of Scar being smacked by ThatGuy who hadn’t had the greatest of starts. Poor GEF also almost spun into the pitlane to carry on his poor luck 🙁.
And he wouldn’t have to go on much longer, retiring from the race on lap 2 and giving us safety car no.2. And I think by now you’ll know where this is going…
Lap 5 would be the time we would get underway again, with Coutinho leading haze leading QWERTY.
Lap 9 would round up the hat trick of safety cars, Legend being the cause this time.
Pretty much everybody would come in for the intermediates bar Liam running in 7th and Scar in 13th. Adrian would hold the lead, albeit not pitting and being in the oldest tyres on the grid.
The 13th lap would allow the race to begin again and we wouldn’t go for long again with Zach crashing and giving safety car number 4. Adrian still holding onto the lead although there wasn’t even a full lap of the track had passed.
Liam would take the chance to ditch his inters, and Scar still adamant on the wet tyre with no fault entirely down to Marc having no clue on what was faster.
Lap 16 would give another restart and not much would happen until lap 17, in a collision Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna would call similar, with Adrian and Coutinho coming together at turn 1, and promoting Haze for a prime position to take the lead of the race eventually. But that chance would have to wait, with Owen crashing and giving us safety car period 5.
Scar FINALLY understood what an intermediate tyre looked like and decided to use it with this 8 lap sprint to end the race coming up.
Haze’s time would come on lap 21, getting Adrian into turn 1 and promoting herself into the lead of the race.
The next dramatic moment came from an unnecessary rush of blood for Kirito, diving Beast at the hairpin and causing himself more damage than what was worth.
But after 27 laps, it was Haze across the line to take her first win of the season with an impressive drive especially with the gap pulled in the final sprint of the race. Coutinho would take second, and Adrian would take the final spot on the podium, making use of the terrorism around him and some smart strategic decisions in the process.
In terms of the 3 front runners for the championship, Beast would take 6th, Scar would take a provisional P8 and Kirito a provisional P9 pending on what the stewards say.
And with that, we say Aragato to Suzuka, and welcome the newest of 2 tracks into the f1 game, as SLR heads to the Middle East to tackle Qatar.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 1:27.260
1. TCP Coutinho 10
2. PxrpHaze 44
3. FRL Kirito
4. F1ABQW3RTYYY
5. THATGUY691244
6. Scar B0rga
7. GoldenEggFryer
8. Kislesko
9. Ski Fee
10. UKBeastAssassin
11. LSW L3G3ND44
12. OwenHowell36
13. ZachIsBeast25
14. SLR Liamm
15. TIRCODZILLA
16. SotierClock110
17. Adrian VIII
18. Active JMC (QB)
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:40.530 FRL Kirito
1. PxrpHaze 44
2. TCP Coutinho 10
3. Adrian VIII
4. Ski Fee
5. SLR Liamm
6. UKBeastAssassin
7. Kislesko
8. Scar B0rga +3 sec
9. FRL Kirito +3 sec
10. Active JMC +3 sec
11. TIRCODZILLA
12. THATGUY691244
13. F1ABQW3RTYYY
14. SotierClock110 (DNF)
15. OwenHowell36 (DNF)
16. ZachIsBeast25 (DNF)
17. LSW L3G3ND44 (DNF)
18. GoldenEggFyrer (DNF)
Kirito Vs JMC - 3s and 1LP to JMC for moving under braking.
JMC moves across late and causes contact with Kirito. 3s has been awarded as the move is coming from quite a way back but you cannot move in front of someone to block them from overtaking.
Kislesko Vs Liam - NFA
Liam does nothing wrong here and Kislesko understeers off track of his own accord.
Kislesko potential 3 second penalty removal - request denied.
After reviewing the footage, we have concluded that Kislesko receives 2 further track limits warnings as well as the double warning and so still accumulates enough warnings to receive a time penalty.
TCP Coutinho rejoin - NFA
There is space for Coutinho to rejoin and he doesn’t force anyone to slow down or change lines.
Beast Vs Kirito - 3s and 1LP to Kirito for divebombing.
Kirito comes from way too far back to attempt a move and hits Beast into a half spin.
Owen Vs Scar - 3s and 1LP to Scar for forcing another driver off track.
Owen is entitled to space on the outside and Scar forces him off track.
Adrian Vs Coutinho - NFA
Adrian tries to stick his nose up the inside of a corner where it’s very tricky to go side by side, when he’s already lost the place.
RACE BAN to Active JMC for accumulating 12 License Points since the start of the season.
Division 3
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 1:34.916
1. legendarydannyd
2. SLR Moley
3. SSR Halo
4. JoshHewitt2247
5. SLR Hicklin
6. ChicknRosery
7. SLR Vettel
8. BadOtterTV
9. Baggiefan 1995
10. HuskySaturn1943
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:30.125 legendarydannyd
1. SSR Halo
2. BadOtterTV
3. SLR Hicklin
4. ChicknRosery
5. SLR Moley
6. legendarydannyd
7. HuskySaturn1943
8. Baggiefan 1995
9. JoshHewitt2247 (DNF)
10. SLR Vettel (DNF)
BadOtterTV vs JoshHewitt2247 - Quali Block
Outcome: NFA
Here we think it isn’t a block, it may be a small distraction but it is definitely not penalisable.
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