After a short turnaround, we are back to do it all over again! We kicked off the season in the deserts of Bahrain and straight off the back we soon realised we have a new name to keep our eyes on, ETE Rusty in the first qualifying session showing us that he was going to be the man to beat in qualifying and after going slightly wide out of the last corner he invalidated his lap and qualified p4 but that didn’t matter because last years runner up Midzy15 set a lap that nobody was going to beat! He put his mclaren on pole position ahead of SLR Griffiths in p2 and crispy in p3
The 5 lights went out and midzy got away well maintaining his lead, crispy had a much better exit out of turn 2 and passed Griffiths into turn 3. last years division one champion Bennett was hit and had damage to deal with and later on in the lap Merkz spun damaging his car bringing out the virtual safety car!
Lap 3, after the virtual safety car ended, rusty overtook Griffiths for p3 and straight away went after crispy in p2 which he managed to pull off going into turn 1 on lap 5!
Lap 9, rusty and crispy decided to pit and try to undercut the leader midzy but unfortunately for rusty who was leading out of the two who pitted came out straight behind bennett who was on old mediums and he couldn’t find a way past until the following lap and by that time midzy had already pitted and came out ahead of him, not what the Aston Martin man wanted and if he wanted to win he had to pass midzy on track.
Lap 24, para quickz who started p11 was in p5 chasing after Griffiths and on the lap later overtook him and he was p4. The race entered the last few laps and midzy was comfortable with the gap to rusty at around 2 seconds so he was looking to see out the race and that’s exactly what he did!
The checkered flag waved and midzy was our first winner of the season! ETE Rusty crossed the line p2 and crispy p3! Honourable mention to Semm who in his first race in the top division picked up a point!
Join us next week as we head to Imola!
McKeon
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.25.441
1. Midzy15
2. SLR Griffiths
3. Crispy2001
4. ETE Rusty
5. SLR Corey
6. Mr Ogween 77
7. V2 x Combat
8. ETE Crowding
9. SLR Connor
10. ZyDRAD
11. raceroller22
12. ETE Semm
13. gho3t COLT
14. PaRa Quickz
15. Riggsey x
16. II Monkeyy II
17. JibJab325
18. SLR Bennett628
19. MeRkz47
20. II Division II
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.27.833 PaRa Quickz
1. Midzy15
2. ETE Rusty
3. Crispy2001
4. PaRa Quickz
5. raceroller22
6. SLR Griffiths
7. Mr Ogween 77
8. JibJab325
9. ETE Semm
10. II Monkeyy II
11. II Division II
12. SLR Connor
13. ZyDRAD +10 sec
14. Riggsey x
15. SLR Corey
16. V2 x Combat
17. SLR Bennett628
18. ETE Crowding (RET)
19. MeRkz47 (RET)
20. gho3t C0LT (RET)
01): Incident involving SLR Corey & ZyDRAD (Collision)
Outcome: +10s and 2LP awarded to ZyDRAD for causing an avoidable collision & spinning another car
Reason: The stewards have assessed the evidence provided for the incident, and determined that both before, and during (up to the point of contact), that SLR Corey was significantly alongside ZyDRAD, and that Corey’s move was not one in which would force ZyDRAD off the track or cause a collision would his initial speed and turn in would’ve played out without contact.
Thus the stewards have determined that ZyDRAD did not leave enough space when battling for the position on this occasion, despite the fact we believe he intended to do so.
02): Incident Involving ETE Crowding & ZyDRAD (Collision)
Outcome: No Further Action
Reason: The stewards have assessed the evidence provided for the incident, and determined that the initial contact between the two drivers was the fault of Crowding, with a poorly judged move to the inside of turn 1, where he is the driver who merges into ZyDRAD’s path, and this is also where we picked up that his wing was damaged.
The second part of the incident was deemed to be more a misunderstanding on the line to be taken by each driver, and after the initial contact in this incident caused by Crowding, warrants no further action from the stewards.
Extra Notes:
The Stewards also picked up on a snippet of Crowding’s clip where he slowed down significantly before pit entry to record his car status from Jeff. This is extremely dangerous, so we would like to ask all drivers to refrain from doing this in the future, and find a more suitable place to do such things.
Division 1
Monday night racing came to SLR with Division 1 becoming the final racing action of the week for the start of season 8.
The Ferrari of ELiTE x RisKz took pole position around the Sakhir International Circuit for the opening round of the season with a fantastic 1:25.682, picking up nicely from where he left off last season, hoping to get that little step further to the top of the pile in Div 1.
However, it was the Alfa Romeo reserve of TheJosh32 who led away from the start and never really looked back, taking a dominant victory nearly 10 seconds ahead of Jito DV in 2nd place.
There was early action at the start with the Haas of SLR Jam40 doing his best 'Mazespin' impression out of turn 2. Contact left SLR Badderss with a lot of work to do also as the drivers jostled for positions early on.
SLR Sam would become the first casualty of the season, spinning out of the fast paced chicane of turns 6 and 7. The differing strategies left big gaps between the field with the mediums runners struggling to keep up on the whole, SLR Barlow and ZachisBeast25 providing some exciting entertainment with their on track battling for what would ultimately be the final points paying positions. Spins for J Lee Menz, SLR FemPest left them all trundling back to the pits to retire as well. SLR ranga succumbed to the same fate as his Williams teammate, with his race ending in the wall.
After the front runners pitted for their medium tyres the alternate strategies runners began to help further separate the field with Barlow and Zach’s battle proving to be a tough obstacle to overcome for many of the drivers. Josh was the first to clear the pair and never looked back after this, with the chasing pack getting caught out due to the squabbles.
The latter stages of the race saw an intense battle over the final podium place with SLR Cech storming through the field on his fresh soft tyres. A loss of (battery) power for pole sitter ELiTE meant the Ferrari driver was forced into an extra pit stop, ultimately costing him any chances of a podium and also allowing Jito some breathing room in P2.
SLR Quattro, Arbon EPA and Cech all found themselves fighting over P3 in the final few laps and it was the AlphaTauri of Quattro who would prevail to take the final silverware of the weekend. Despite a spin midway through, ETSR Jensen had a solid recovery after missing qualifying, bringing his Aston Martin home in P7 from P19 on the grid. The Haas drivers of SLR Jam40 and SLR Barlow also recovered well from a disappointing qualifying to come home P9 and P10 respectively. Zach had an incident shortly after pitting and came home a respectable P11 with the Alpine of LP Smoke taking home the fastest lap and a P12 finish. A couple of spins forced SLR Ham19 into retirement shortly before the end and damage ended SLR Vandoorne’s race early as well.
Division 1 promises to be an enthralling part of SLR’s biggest season ever with the early signs suggesting that it could go right down to the wire. Our focus swiftly turns to the old school Imola circuit for next week’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.25.882
1. Elite x Riskz
2. TheJosh32
3. SLR FemPest
4. Jito DV
5. ShutMedal
6. Arb0n Epa
7. SLR Quattro
8. SLR ranga
9. SLR Vandoorne
10. SLR Sam
11. LP Smoke
12. SLR Cech
13. SLR Ham19
14. SLR Badders
15. ZachIsBeast25
16. J Lee Menz
17. SLR Jam40
18. SLR Barlow
19. ETSR Jensen2508
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.27.381 LP Smoke
1. TheJosh32
2. Jito DV
3. SLR Quattro
4. Arb0n EPA
5. ShutMedal
6. SLR Cech
7. ETSR Jensen2508
8. Elite x Riskz
9. SLR Jam40
10. SLR Barlow
11. ZachIsBeast25
12. LP Smoke
13. SLR Ham19 (RET)
14. SLR Vandoorne (DNF)
15. SLR FemPest (DNF)
16. SLR ranga (DNF)
17. J Lee Menz (RET)
18. SLR Badderss (RET)
19. SLR Sam (DNF)
20. KianReynolds368 (DNS)
Division 2
Here we are again folks, Bahrain! After a short break since season 7 we start it all over again for what feels like a 16 week sprint. After the introduction of a new division this is a much changed Division 2 for season 8.
Qualifying gave us a taster of how close this season could truly be. At the end of Q1 the top 12 were split by a mere 4 tenths. But that wasn’t the most impressive showing from this group. In Q3 the top 5 was split by only 0.081! It was DPT Paul who took pole position with BadOtterTV completing the front row.
Onto the race itself. DPT Paul got off the line well and was able to retain the lead into turn one, but due to a slow start BadOtterTV lost second place to LSW L3G3ND44 before even reaching the first corner. Further down the field I VR46 I produced a brilliant double overtake on SLR Allen and legendarydannyd through turn 4&5 to jump from P9 to P7.
It wouldn’t take long for our first retirement and VSC of the season. There was contact between BadOtterTV and DPT Alfie on the exit of turn 8. This resulted in the Williams driver unfortunately ending up in the wall.
Carnage would ensue on lap 6 when LSW L3G3ND44 would lose control and crash out at the infamous right hander at turn 12. This would result in a safety car, but just before that could be deployed CSCMorris spun in the same spot. However he managed to keep it out of the wall and not collect any other drivers in the process.
This sparked the pit lane into life and all drivers apart from 5 used this as their opportunity to pit onto fresh tyres. All of the pitters threw fresh medium tyres on apart from CSCMorris who after his close shave with the wall decided to go aggressive on softs and DPT Alfie playing the long game on hards.
It would be lap 9 where the race resumed with DPT Paul working hard to get past those drivers who didn’t pit under the safety car. He would make quick work of ARL PReDaToRZz and OwenHowell36 on lap 9 but have his progress was halted almost install due to our second VSC. This time it was Kemence61 who met his end at turn 3.
The VSC seemed to remain with us forever and it would appear this caught M Mcloughlin X out. DPT Paul was past him as the green flag dropped and set to work hunting SLR Moley down to regain the lead. This didn’t take long and DPT Paul rightfully lead the race half a lap later.
The middle phase of the raced ran uninterrupted by safety cars or the VSC for a dozen laps or so and this allowed the entire field to showcase their race craft. There was a flurry of brilliant overtakes and top draw wheel to wheel racing. During this time DPT Paul managed to build himself a commanding lead and look like he had the race won. Until the inevitable happened and the safety car was deployed.
It was lap 24, Ellis 37 had managed to lose it on the curbs at turn 7 and became yet another casualty from this race. Just like the previous safety car on lap 6 virtually all of the drivers took the opportunity to pit, this time for whatever softs they had remaining. This had just turned into a 3 lap sprint race to the chequered flag.
On the safety car restart it was lap 27 of 29, DPT Paul went early. This caught M Mcloughlin x napping and SLR Moley was past him into fourth on the pit straight. However SLR ALE had an even more impressive restart and before even reaching turn 1 he had jumped both M Mcloughlin x and SLR Moley into P4.
At the front SLR Allen and SLR Morgan put the pressure straight onto DPT Paul out in front. SLR Allen managed to get alongside DPT Paul on the approach to turn 4 but just couldn’t do enough to get past. DPT Paul used this as his opportunity to yet again run away from the chasing pack. Down into turn 10 SLR ALE would catch the rear end of SLR Morgan. As a result he lost the end plate of his front wing, which played a massive part in the final few laps.
The front three were able to run away over the next couple of laps leaving SLR ALE to not just battle his car but the 6 cars behind chomping at the bit to get past. This produced 2 final laps of incredible racing where positions were constantly changing, where one slip up could cost the driver everything.
Unfortunately for SLR ALE picked up a 3 second penalty. So even though he crossed the line in P5 he dropped down the order into P12. This just shows how bunched up the field was behind SLR ALE.
But of course there could only be one winner and that was of course DPT Paul. Who over the 3 laps had managed to create a 3.7 second gap to second place. It was SLR Allen who came home in second place after managing to hold SLR Morgan off over the 3 lap sprint.
So after such a tantalising start to season 8 next week we are off to the picturesque setting of Imola. For what I am sure will be another action packed race.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.26.384
1. DPT Paul
2. BadOtterTV
3. LSW L3G3END44
4. VapidCoot74
5. DPT Alfie
6. IVR46I
7. LegendarydannyD
8. SLR Morgan
9. SLR Allen
10. Ellis 37
11. CSCMorris
12. OwenHowell36
13. MasonGammon05
14. SLR Moley
15. M Mcloughlin x
16. SotierClock110
17. SLR ALE
18. Kemence1
19. Adrian Vlll
20. ARL PReDaToRZz
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.27.961 DPT Paul
1. DPT Paul
2. SLR Allen
3. SLR Morgan
4. SLR Moley
5. M Mcloughlin x
6. OwenHowell36
7. IVR46I
8. VapidCoot74
9. SotierClock110
10. legendarydannyd
11. SLR ALE
12. MasonGammon
13. DPT Alfie +8 sec
14. Adrian VIII
15. ARL PReDaToRZz
16. EIIis 37 (DNF)
17. CSCMorris (RET)
18. Kemence61 (DNF)
19. LSW L3G3ND44 (DNF)
20. BadOtterTc (DNF)
Incident 1:
BadOtterTV Vs DPT Alfie - 3s time penalty and 1 licence point to DPT Alfie for divebomb
Whilst the stewards agreed that BadOtter left the door open into turn 8, the move from Alfie was late and dangerous as Otter was forced to change his line and back out of the corner. The resulting contact and DNF for Otter was deemed a racing incident due to sufficient room being left by Alfie and the contact being initiated by Otter.
Incident 2:
MasonGammon05 Vs DPT Alfie - 5s time penalty and 1 licence point to DPT Alfie for spinning another car
Both cars are aware of each other's position due to their battle from turn 1 onwards. Mason is tight on the right hand side of turn 6 and cannot provide Alfie with anymore room. Alfie has room he can give Mason but turns into the corner on the racing line, causing the Haas driver to spin out, therefore a 5 second time penalty is awarded.
Incident 3:
VapidCoot74 Vs Ellis37 - 5s time penalty and 2 licence points to Ellis37 for causing minor wing damage to VapidCoot74
Ellis misjudges his braking point into turn 10, hitting the back of VapidCoot, causing the Alfa Romeo driver to sustain minor wing damage. The penalty would have been more severe had the nature of the contact not kept the Alfa Romeo pointing in the right direction, therefore 2 licence points are awarded to Ellis37.
Incident 4:
VapidCoot74 Vs CSCMorris - 5s time penalty and 1 licence point to CSCMorris for spinning another car.
Morris and Vapid are battling side by side heading into turn 4. Vapid still holds the inside line as both drivers turn in to the corner. Morris does not leave sufficient racing room for Vapid and the resulting contact causes Vapid to spin. Morris turns in on the racing line even though Vapid is there, leaving the Alfa Romeo driver with nowehere to go. Therefore, a 5 second time penalty is awarded to CSCMorris.
Division 3
Welcome to Season 8 division 3 in SLR finally back on track after a few weeks off with lots of new faces in the new look div 3. Pre season favourite Simon37m showed why he had that tag with fastest times in Q1 and Q2 however in Q3 SLR Jack would pip him to pole by .048 of a second. The South African DimplyHornet would start on the second row alongside MVT Hurww. Shoutout to all 4 who were in the old div 3 make the step up and all make Q3 in there first race!
To the race then and lights out for the beginning of the season. DimplyHornet didn’t seem to get away at all from the second and quickly found himself down to 7th. Out front Simon37m started to build a gap as he jumped up passed pole sitter SLR Jack.
Matt silva had the best start however with 10 position gains in 3 laps which is impressive stuff just two more than SLR Charlie who’d gained 8 places in the opening laps.
Lots of moves in the laps that followed as the drs activated and it was great wheel to wheel racing in a 6 car fight for P2 played out over 4 or 5 laps.
The pit window opened the soft starters were in on lap 10. This opened up the field and left the medium starters to try and go longer. As the two Mercedes’ of GoldenEggFryer and SLR James were battling and samlamenace decided he wanted a bit of the action as he got passed GoldenEggFryer at the half way stage of the race.
As the medium runners started to pit. SLR Charlie took his mediums 19 laps as well as DimplyHornet who were now on soft tyres to the end of the race.
So the race came down to this with drivers on fresher could they mount a charge on the drivers on older harder compound tyres. SLR Charlie certainly put peddle to the floor and quickly got passed Matt silva to move up to P4 and set off in pursuit of SSR Halo who was having a great race. Charlie would make it passed though with drs assistance.
SLR James now caught Matt silva and made the move into turn 1 However going up into turn 3 Matt would fight back and take back the place. However on the next lap two from the end a spin from Matt took himself down the order and unfortunately James out of the race.
Meanwhile out front Simon37m was still leading but teammate Charlie was catching however it wouldn’t be enough. As Simon took victory. A huge effort from Charlie though gaining 14 places to finish 2nd so a 1-2 for Aston Martin. SSR Halo picked up the final podium place on his return to full time racing. MVT Hurww 4th, GoldenEggFryer from last to P5. Matt silva from P19 to 6th. Samlamenace from P18 to 7th. Those guys having a great race. SLR Jack 8th after getting passed SLR Leah who was P9 on the last lap as he ran out of fuel. And the last point goes to GregersUK
*results above pre stewards
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.26.451
1. SLR Jack
2. Simon37M
3. DimplyHornet862
4. MVT Hurww
5. BcfcJosh1232752
6. Active JMC
7. SSR Halo
8. SLR Block
9. Gregers UK
10. Chickn Rosery
11. NNT BOULANGE
12. dRaSt1k bLazE
13. SLR Leah
14. SLR CHARLIE1
15. SLR James96
16. SLR Dosser
17. THATGUY691244
18. Samlamnace2073
19. Matt Silva
20. GoldenEggFryer
Race
Fastest Lap:01.28.226 SLR Dosser
1. Simon37M
2. SLR CHARLIE1
3. SSR Halo
4. MVT Hurww
5. GoldenEggFryer
6. Samlamenace
7. Matt Silva +10 sec
8. SLR Jack +5 sec
9. SLR Leah
10. Gregers UK
11. DimplyHornet862
12. SLR Dosser
13. dRaSt1k bLazE
14. SLR James96 (RET)
15. THATGUY691244 (RET)
16. SLR Block (DNF)
17. ChicknRosery (RET)
18. Bcfcjosh1232752 (DNF)
19. NNT BOULANGE (DNF)
20. Active JMC (DSQ)
Simon37M - retiring on track-
outcome:qualifying ban.
Reminder to all drivers that retiring on track is not prohibited under any circumstances unless told to.
Chicknrosery- retiring on track-
outcome: qualifying ban
Drast1k blaze vs that guy - divebomb-
outcome: 5s penalty. Gives blaze slight damage and gains the position
SLR Dosser vs NNT Boulange - lap 1
outcome: 10s penalty 1LP. Loses control of his car and gives dosser major wing damage.
NNT Boulange - taking out brake boards -
outcome: qualifying ban 2LP There was absolutely no reason for boulange to be taking out the brake boards whilst moving out the way for another driver when he could’ve simply stayed on track and gotten out the way on the inside.
Reminder to all drivers, taking out brake boards will be heavily punished as it nightly disadvantages drivers who don’t run line.
SLR james vs Matt silva - lap 27 -
outcome: 10s penalty 2LP. Matt after running in ai for half a lap unpauses and spins causing him to spin James and gives him wing damage.
SLR Jack - Unsafe rejoin - outcome: 5s penalty 1LP
Division 4
welcome to Division 4s Debut in the first round of season 8. Bahrain is a tricky track for many with its traction zones and the infamous Turn 10 that can make or break a lap. As we go into full the first Qualifying stage, we have almost a full grid at 19 Drivers present, all of them eager to make a mark on the fresh season. Quali 1 was dominated by SLR marsh with a time 3/10ths faster than SLR Russell in second. At the opposite end, PopcornJoe Stevobrick, Baggiefan and SLR Floersch bowing out of the first round.
As the track warms and times shorten in round 2 PrimusGaming ends up on top showing pace, with strong drivers from the previous season Maxwel, Bigbag and F1 Warhead mong those not able to make the cut. Round 3 has the top ten battling for fastest times with Primus making a statement in pole, SLR Hicklin making a strong debut after relegation in P2 and Unrealsalmon in P3. Warming up the First race of season 8 for the newly formed Division 4, the lights are out as the drivers fight for grip as they accelerate. in the first lap unrealsalmon spins turn 12 luckily doesnt get collected by the rest of the grid,and again lap 2 turn 13 a rather shaky start. F1 Warhead not to be outdone spind and first out of the race at turn 15 by overzealous on the throttle causing a virtual safety car.
Virtual safety restart SLR russell battles for 5th place with Cxmzn making a move around the outside of turn 1 with cXmzn taking it back in turn 11 and pitting early due to burnt out tyres, pushing russell to 4th place on lap 5 only to lose it to Vision in turn 2. Primusgaming keeping a strong lead in lap 7 of 3.3 seconds only for a safety car as Unreal salmon crashes out turn 11 and vision loses 4th spinning at turn 2. As the safety car comes in lap 10 SmitHPDan leads but is quickly taken over by Primusgaming into turn 4.
SLRmarsh and Hicklin push up past SmitHPDan to take 2nd and third. In lap 15 SLR Russell and Kopkidjack come together in turn 6 SLR Russell keeping 6th place and Kopkidjack leaving the track, and after a 10 second track rejoin penalty on him Kopkidjack retires in the pits, both Aston Martin cars out of the race.
PrimusGaming on lap 20 pits for fresh mediums and Hicklin for softs leaving SLR marsh in 1st, Swinners in 2nd and Vision in third, by lap 26 Primus has regained 3rd. Russell from 8th place has dropped down to 15th due to an unfortunate spin. Lap 29 Marsh is first, PrimusGaming overtaking Swinners who gets a puncture securing 2nd place.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.28.756
1. PrimusGaming
2. SLR Hicklin
3. UnrealSalmon598
4. SLR Marsh
5. Swinners28
6. xxxx Rosco xxxx
7. SLR Russell
8. Vision2614
9. I Cxmzn I
10. KOPKIDJACK2005
11. SmitHPDanX01
12. I21I Maxwell
13. BigBag92
14. JPPGaming96
15. F1 Warhead
16. PopcornJoe5822
17. Stevobrick
18. SLR Floersch
19. Baggiefan 1995
Race
Fastest Lap:Fastest lap - 1:28.878 SmitHPDan
1. SLR Marsh
2. Swinners28
3. PrimusGaming +10 sec
4. I21I Maxwell
5. SLR Hiicklin
6. JPPGaming96
7. xxxx Rosco xxxx
8. SLR Floersch
9. BigBag92
10. Vision2614 +3 sec
11. PopcornJoe5822
12. Baggiefan 1995
13. Stevobrick
14. SLR Russell +10 sec
15. I Cxmzn I
16. SmitHPDanX01 15 sec
17. KOPKIDJACK2005 (RET)
18. UnrealSalmon590 (DNF)
19. F1 Warhead (DNF)
Incident 1: Vision2614 vs SmitHPDanX01 - Lap 15, Causing a collision
Outcome: 3 second time penalty to Vision for avoidable contact.
Reason: Stewards agreed that Vision was to blame for the contact and should have tried to return the position.
Incident 2: SLR Marsh vs PrimusGaming - Qualifying, Blocking
Outcome: 10 second time penalty and 2 license points to Primus for blocking Marsh
Reason: Although Primus may not have known Marsh was on a lap, he should have assumed he was, and waited for him to either pass or for marsh slow down earlier.
Incident 3: SmitHPDanX01 - Lap 16, Resetting to track
Outcome: 15 second time penalty
Reason: Resetting to track is NOT allowed under league rules, and thus there is no excuse for the use of it in this instance.
Incident 4: PopcornJoe5822 vs SmitHPDanX01 - Lap 16, Causing a collision
Outcome: Racing Incident
Reason: Neither driver are fully innocent in this instance. Note drivers need to be aware of drivers around them so to avoid collision, that may affect one or multiple drivers.
Incident 5: KOPKIDJACK2005 vs SLR Russell - Lap 15, Causing a collision/Forcing another driver off track
Outcome: 10 second time penalty and 3 license points for SLR Russell
Reason: Russell is not significantly far enough and just forces KOP off track via contact. This in turn led to KOP receiving an in game 10 second penalty for corner cutting despite gaining nothing in terms of track position or lap time.
Incident 6: l 21 l Maxwell vs Vision2614 - Lap 20, Squeezing
Outcome: Racing Incident
Reason: Both drivers are on different lines into the corner, neither driver receives damage, and neither driver would appear to gain anything.
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