Ökul is still perfectly in midfield. Gonna try maximum attack next round. Waiting for a massive crash.
Q1 result was so unexpected. I was looking from the middle portion and then the bottom half. Nope. Guess it’s all down to my driver.
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I’m going maximum attack for a while; I think I may be less affected by ballast than those further up the first round pace and maybe if I get lucky some results can come from it.
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BlueBull RX Belgium, Day One - Qualifying Rounds
Q1
The third round of the ARX League began under a cloudy, rainy sky, with Circuit Jules Tacheny very wet and muddy in a scene typical of spring in Belgium. The first race saw Einar Poogen in the #88 Okul take the top spot in the heat, good for P9 in the session, a full six seconds ahead of Craig March in the #95 Astelli Racing Leopard. NEMW’s Miguel Gonzalez overcame a poor start, stringing together four excellent laps to best the Zenshi of Laurent Faust, who finished clear of Sylvester Landon in the Isami Vireo in fifth place by nearly seven seconds.
Clive Baker in the #47 Team WRT Westward shocked the rest of the field in the second heat, taking not only the top spot in the heat but also setting the best time in Q1 overall. Only the #37 Albatross of Joey Rogers was able to mount any kind of challenge to Baker in this session, though in the end the young American ended up almost eight seconds back of the Westward.
Hammond Hunter took the best time in the third heat, his excellent start proving to be the difference between the Deer and Hunt and second-place Quentin LeTheou in the #99 Flamers Iliythiya at the finish line. Pekka Heikkinen had a rough Q1, his PepperBomb sliding off the track on the first lap, knocking the suspension out of alignment and limping home to a last-place finish, some six seconds behind Marika Kazan in the JHW Lynx.
Maki Taninawa of the SAS-ANA RX team bested the field in the fourth heat, finishing some four seconds ahead of William Cunningham in the Omen RX, both drivers praising their machines for being very exploitable on this challenging and slippery track, both drivers besting championship leader Bandit Borgwarnerson, who did not look entirely comfortable in the #100 Flamarbol in this session.
Hsiu-Yinn Lim ran a steady, uneventful race in the #16 Armada, taking the top spot in the final heat by almost four seconds over Maria Ramirez in the Geschenk. Phornsawan Sirisuk collided with Robert Field going into the very first corner, the young South African damaging his car as he spun off, though the SBA Rosales of Sirisuk did not come out unscathed either, limping his car around to a fifth-place finish in the heat.
Q2
The rain tapered off to a drizzle for Q2, the track drying slightly, though the unpaved sections of the track remained as treacherous as ever, as Kevin Michaels found out in the first heat, his KMC Arrotare crashing late on the first lap and then again on the second lap, the stricken machine limping around to finish the heat, but well out of contention. Timo Virtanen in the LATOY LSSD took top honours the first heat, finishing well clear of fellow Finn Pekka Heikkinen in second place.
Phornsawan Sirisuk recovered from his rough outing in Q1, his repaired SBA Rosales storming to the top spot in the second heat, nearly nine seconds ahead of Ashlynn Morganstern in the Ars Eligos and Mason Olsen in the NPV, those two drivers finishing virtually neck and neck for second and third in what turned out to be a thrilling battle. Eino Vatanen crashed out hard in the Delta Motorsport machine, limping his stricken car around to finish the race, but badly damaged.
Craig March took the top spot in the third heat, taking an easy top spot over Pablo Sanchez in the Shromet, who lost out on a chance to win the heat after tangling with championship rival Alexander-John Sierra’s Merciel on the start section, the Brit’s car spinning around and hitting the barrier after Sanchez slammed the door on an overtaking maneuver.
Hsiu-Yinn Lim had an eventful race in the fourth heat, tangling with slow traffic a couple of times after their joker lap, and making a couple of tactical errors on Lap 2 and Lap 3, though in the end it wasn’t enough to dislodge the Chinese prodigy from the top spot in the heat, a full four seconds ahead of Maria Ramirez. Alexander Krebs had a very rough start in the Likar, causing Jaimz Scooby in the FMR to run into the back of the German, crushing the FMR Stadia’s intercooler and reducing that car’s pace considrably.
Bandit Borgwarnerson took the top spot in the final heat, his difficulties in Q1 a thing of the past as he got away cleanly at the start and never looked back, finishing fifteen seconds ahead of Maki Taninawa in the #545 Sakura Ronin. The battle of the heat fell to Rudolfs Jansons in the #13 Tyrelli Schwarzburg R3 and Team WRT’s Clive Baker, who finished barely a car length apart, well back of the rest of the pack, but no less hard fought between the two drivers.
Q3
The rain intensified between sessions, leaving the track treacherous once again in Q3, with many of the damaged cars from the previous two sessions finding themselves out on the track in the first heat, in various states of repair. Alexander Krebs took the top spot in this race easily, good for P7 in the session, being the only car in anything approaching an undamaged state. Eino Vatanen’s drive failed on the third lap, #4 Delta Motorsport car grinding to a halt after a promising start to the race, his weekend over. Laurent Faust tangled with Takumi Fujiwara in the Fuji Raceworks car, damaging both cars severely and effectively ending their weekends as well.
Clive Baker once again demonstrated his wet-weather prowess, along with the accessible performance of the Westward El Verano by cruising to a decisive victory in the second heat, seventeen seconds clear of Rudolfs Jansons in the Schawarzburg R3. Miguel Gonzalez returned to form somewhat after an entirely forgettable Q2, finishing a solid fifth-place over Declan Slater.
Einar Poogen took the top spot in the third heat, the Estonian star showing once again his talent to the world, crossing the finish line a full nine seconds ahead of Hammond Hunter’s Fallow Stadium. Tom Powell in the Seydel-GNG came third, nipping at the heels but never quite reaching the #10 car ahead of him. Eric Meistermann’s rough weekend continued, finishing last in heat in the NARUTO Selestat FAAL, the car proving to be exceedingly difficult to drive in these challenging conditions.
Maki Taninawa took the honours in heat number four, beating out the likes of Pablo Sanchez, cleared by the stewards of any wrongdoing in the Sierra crash just before the heat began, and Joey Rogers in his #37 Albatross. Pekka Heikkinen struggled again as the weather deteriorated, his car proving to be a handful in these conditions once again.
Hsiu-Yinn Lim took the top spot in the final heat, and indeed the top spot in Q3 with her finish, three seconds ahead of Bandit Borgwarnerson, the Chinese driver sprinting off the line as Borgwarnerson struggled to find grip. Maria Ramirez in the Geschenk finished third, three seconds behind Borgwarnerson, then a large gap to fourth, where Craig March placed the Astelli Racing machine, a couple of big moments in his race ending his challenge for third. Quentin LeTheou crashed his Flamers Ilithyia hard on the second lap, managing to keep the machine running, but was forced to limp the stricken car home, well back of the leaders in this heat.
Q4
The weather steady between sessions, Alexander-John Sierra took his fully repaired Merciel Pixi to the top spot in the first heat, twenty seconds up on Robert Field in second place. Eric Meistermann crashed hard on the start section, the Frenchman having to limp his car home just ahead of the rest of the field in third place, with this heat running short a car after Delta Motorsport retired the car officially at the end of Q3.
Declan Slater took top honours in the second heat of the session, winning easily over Mason Olsen of NPV Factory Racing, the Antti ARXL Special crossing the line some three seconds ahead of the NPV. Phornsawan Sirisuk in third place kept the New Zealander honest, finishing six-tenths back, with a large gap between them and fourth-place Ashlynn Morganstern.
Craig March finished first in the third heat, seven seconds up on William Cunningham in second place. With that finish, one could see the elation of the Mach Schnell Racing team as their driver put their car into the semi-finals for the first time this season, after struggling mightily in the first two rounds of the season. Jaimz Scooby followed a mere second behind Cunningham in third place, the FMR Stadia not quite able to keep up with the Omen RX ahead of him.
Hammond Hunter, Rudolfs Jansons and Alexander Krebs were your top three drivers from the fourth heat, those three drivers securing their spots in the semi-finals for the first time, with the Deer and Hunt doing a celebratory set of donuts on the start-finish line before being asked the track officials to clear the track for the final heat. Joey Rogers, after a strong run through the first three qualifying sessions, damaged his suspension on the first lap of the race, limping the car home in last place, though still able to finish well enough to ensure the Albatross made the semi-final.
In the final heat, Einar Poogen edged out both Hsiu-Yinn Lim and Clive Baker in a thrilling race, with scarcely more than a second between the Okul in first and the third-place Westward. A storming start by all three drivers separated them from the rest of the pack, with all three drivers making for early joker laps. With the Okul in the lead in the final lap, Poogen got a bit over-ambitious with one of his braking points, running wide and cutting back aggressively onto the racing line, forcing both the Armada and the Westward to avoid the wayward car ahead of them. Fortunately, no damage was done, and to the relief of Poogen, he was able to retain the lead right to the chequered flag.
Intermediate Classification
With marginally better weather forecast for tomorrow, and the field thoroughly shaken up today, the semi-finals and finals are truly free for the taking by anyone. Will Hsiu-Yinn Lim take their first win of the season? Will Bandit Borgwarnerson recover from the challenges faced today to take yet another win, or will Einar Poogen, the dark horse of this round, sneak up and steal a victory from the leaders of the championship?
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I have no idea how Einar Poogen is doing this. In the dry the car is midfield. Usually 16th or 15th. In the wet (lets say q3) the car was 2 seconds faster than in drier conditions (q2) wtf?
Also nearly took out half of opposition in Q4 so 
.
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looks like your car’s better in the wet. Or your driver. The calculations also account for the competition as well so if you’re getting squeezed out by faster competitors in the dry that will probably hold you up. However in the wet a lot of the cars have very poor drivability and will be heavily affected and if you have better drivability you may end up way in front with nobody to hold you up (seems to be what happened to me).
Also you lucky I didn’t dial aggressiveness up to max or Hsiu-Yinn could have run straight into Poogen in that last heat and we’d be sitting at the bottom rofl 
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oof. wet weather is not my suit, it seems.
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How did that happen? My car is in the semis!
Guess it’s better in rain and mud hope for more of that
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yeahh now I’m just dead last. Any hope of advancing was with higher pace, and with higher pace it doesn’t look so good.
Holy shit, that’s the best result I’ve ever had in my own car. A Heat win, and 4th after the heats.
Guess I’m not as shit in the shit weather as I thought I would be
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BlueBull RX Belgium, Day Two - Semi-Finals and Final
Semi-Final 1
Though the skies threatened to open up several times in the lead up to the semi-finals, the rain held off for the first semi-final at least. Craig March in the Astelli and Tsiu-Yinn Lim got great starts, with Einar Poogen in the Okul not far behind them. Phornsawan Sirisuk stalled out on the line, and while he was able to get the #55 SBA Rosales going again, his race was effectively over even before it began. After a pretty average start, Pablo Sanchez strung together three excellent laps, getting right up behind Poogen, keeping the Estonian honest at every turn. Looking better and better at every step, Craig March started to pull away from Lim’s Armada until suddenly on the final lap, the Leopard ground to a halt, his race over. An astonished Lim blasted past and inherited the lead, finishing nine and a half seconds ahead of Einar Ppgen and ten seconds ahead of Pablo Sanchez. Tom Powell in the #888 Seydel-GNG pipped Joey Rogers for fourth place, with eight one-hundredths of a second between the two drivers at the finish line.
Semi-Final 2
A gentle drizzle began just as the first semi-final ended, wetting the track before the second semi-final race. Bandit Borgwarnerson and Maria Ramirez were caught unaware by Alexander Krebs on the start, the German driver leading the Flamarbol and the Geschenk into the first lap by a half a second. However, the Likar just couldn’t match the pace of the other two drivers, falling back to third place after his joker lap, which is ultimately where he finished the race. Hammond Hunter and WIlliam Cunningham were both hot on his tail, with the #10 Deer and Hunt finishing three seconds behind the Likar, having inherited fourth place on Lap 5 when the #545 Sakura Ronin broke down, with Cunningham’s Omen RX a second behind the big American pickup truck, just on the other side of making the final race. In the end, Bandit Borgwarnerson took the top honours in this race, finishing well clear of Maria Ramirez in second place.
Final
The drizzle continued for the final, though the track condition did not change appreciably between the end of the Semi-Finals and the Final. Hsiu-Yinn Lim blasted out of the starting blocks and never looked back, finishing 3.6 seconds ahead of Bandit Borgwarnerson’s Flamarbol Beryl. Pablo Sanchez drove a competent and clean race to finish third in his #52 Shromet Appalachian, six seconds ahead of Maria Ramirez in the Geschenk. Tom Powell overcame a very poor start to finish fifth by the narrowest of margins, holding off a late charge from Einar Poogen to finish a mere three one-hundredths of a second ahead of the Estonian. Right behind them, Hammon Hunter in the #10 Deer and Hunt and Joey Rogers in the #37 Albatross battled hard, only eight tenths between them at the line, with Alexander Krebs faltering on the start, then making a mistake on his first lap, damaging his car slightly, to round out the field.
Final Classification
With Hsiu-Yinn Lim’s wire-to-wire-to-wire victory today, she secures the maximum number of points for the event, besting Bandit Borgwarnerson by five points, and reducing the gap in the championship standings by five, going into the fourth round at historic Silverstone Circuit in England. With the weather forecast to be sunny and hot all weekend - a decidedly un-English proposition at this time of the year, will Borgwarnerson recover some of his lost form, or will Hsiu-Yinn Lim make it two in a row?
Championship Standings
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So. Einar Poogen made water from drywall. It’s really fun to see Ökul NH RX somewhat competitive in wet conditions. After first two rounds (of mediocre performances at best) we told Einar he can drive the wheels off the car for the rest of the season. And drive the wheels off he absolutely did.
We shouldn’t have qualified for the final. But we did cause rain. And luck. And Einar.
But it’s all a fun experience, we are here not for the results. We’re here to learn a bit. And be better in the future.
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Obviously not the result we wanted from the Semi-Final, but there are a lot of positives to take away.
The car seems to be quick, Craig still finished with enough points to move up to 4th in the overall standings, and takes much less ballast into his home race - looking forward to seeing how the cars cope on a track with more dirt than tarmac.
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Gulp Oil Rallycross Of Great Britain, Day One - Qualifying Rounds
Q1
The sun shone bright on Silverstone Circuit this morning, and with the weather forecast to remain clear and warm all weekend, speeds will be high on this challenging rallycross course. Many of the drivers were looking forward to a weekend of their own beds and some home cooking, with a large number of the field expressing that this is their favourite round of the season.
The first heat in Q1 started the weekend with an absolutely thrilling race, with Phornsawan Sirisuk, Einar Poogen, William Cunningham and Alexander-John Sierra all finishing within a third of a second of the eventual winner Sirisuk. Paint was traded occasionally, but the racing was by and large clean and fair, with Cunningham making a spectacular joker lap on his final lap, just slotting in ahead of Sierra’s Merciel at the merge. Ashlynn Morganstern and Joey Rogers struggled off the starting line, never quite recovering from the lost time, opting instead to let the drivers ahead of them duke it out, and to be ready in the event of a mistake taking out one or all of them.
The second heat was perhaps a bit of a letdown in comparison to the first race, with Maki Taninawa in the #545 taking an easy win over Tom Powel in the Seydel-GNG, slotting the Sakura Ronin into P2 for the entire session. Eric Meistermann in the #24 FAAL Coupe had a couple of miscues in the race, running wide on Lap 2 and missing a braking point on the third lap, a couple of mistakes that cost him a much higher finish in this heat.
Quentin LeTheou took the top spot in heat number three, the #99 Flamers Ilithyia crossing the finish line a second ahead of Mason Olsen’s NPV NX-430 and into P5 for the session. Timo Virtanen in the LATOY and Declan Slater in the Antti ARXL Special had a bit of a coming together on the first lap, both cars finishing the race with some damage.
Pekka Heikkinen took the top spot in a fourth heat laden with championship heavyweights, just edging out the Westward El Verano of Clive Baker by less than a tenth of a second. Alexander Krebs in the Likar Tixref took third place in the heat, followed by Hsiu-Yinn Lim in the Armada Pint, the Chinese driver struggling after sideswiping the wall after running wide on the first lap. In spite of the damage to her car, Lim managed to finish ahead of Hammond Hunter, the Deer and Hunt looking a bit out of its element on this tight, twisting circuit.
In the fifth and final heat, Craig March of Astelli Racing knocked off the top spot, both for the heat as well as the whole of Q1, finishing three seconds ahead of Geschenk’s Maria Ramirez and NEMW’s Miguel Gonzalez, the Nashoba barely a second behind the Geschenk in third. Championship leader Bandit Borgwarnerson took fourth in the heat after a poor start in the Flamarbol, the New Zealander never really looking comfortable with the car and the conditions this morning, but vowing to finish better in the following rounds as he climbed out of his car, sitting in a distant P15.
Q2
As the track warmed and the paved sections got cleared of dust, times began to tumble in Q2, with even the slowest time in Q2 being equivalent to mid-field in Q1. The first heat saw Timo Virtanen in the freshly repaired LATOY and Eric Meistermann storm off into the distance, both drivers finishing nearly ten seconds ahead of Kevin Michaels’ #63 KMC Arrotare, the Finn and the Frenchman taking P5 and P6 in this round of qualifying. Behind Michaels, the rest of the first heat battled hard to try and come out on top, with the remaining four drivers finishing within a second of one another in a thrilling scrap.
Yuki Fujishima took the top spot in heat number two, good for P3 in this session, several seconds ahead of Hsiu-Yinn Lim, who still managed a second-place finish in this heat despite a considerable amount of speed tape covering the stricken Armada. Ashlynn Morganstern looked a fair bit sharper this round than in Q1, finishing third ahead of Declan Slater and Hammond Hunter.
Bandit Borgwarnerson in the #100 Flamarbol took the top spot in the third heat, easily beating Tom Powell’s #888 car, and showing a considerable ability to shrug off one poor performance and make good on the next. Pablo Sanchez in the Shromet, Marika Kazan in the JHW and Eino Vatanen in the Delta Motorsports machine finished third through fifth respectively, all three drivers fighting hard to try and gain the upper hand over one another. After a strong Q1, Alexander Krebs had an off on his joker lap, damaging his car and relgating the #35 Likar to sixth place in the heat.
Phornsawan Sirisuk and SBA Boonigan Racing took the top spot in heat four, the young Thai driver making good on the rest of the field opting for a first-lap joker by flying unimpeded around the open track to set the second-best time of Q2. Alexander-John Sierra finished second, holding off a late charge by Sylvester Landon in the Isami to just barely hold on to his position. Einar Poogen and William Cunningham had a bit of a coming together on the start stretch, damaging both cars and taking themselves out of contention in this session, but both drivers remained optimistic for their chances going into Q3.
Pekka Heikkinen took a resounding victory in the final heat, the Pepperbomb seemingly a world away from the rest of the competitors in this heat, finishing a scarcely believable twelve seconds ahead of the already fast Craig March in the Astelli Racing machine. Maria Ramirez finished third, squandering an excellent start in this heat when she ran wide on her joker lap, losing almost a full second in comparison to March at the last minute.
Q3
As the racing closed up in Q2, it continued to close even more in Q3, with the drivers getting more and more aggressive in their bids to win heats and set good times; this did not go unpunished however. as several teams’ weekends succumbed to accidents or mechanical failure. In the first heat, Jaimz Scooby’s engine failed spectacularly in the first sector of Lap 2, the FMR Stadia quite literally grinding to a halt to end that team’s campaign here in England. Robert Field of Oblong Wheels Racing overcame a very poor start, as well as a mistake on the first lap, to post the best finish in the first heat, finishing well clear of Laurent Faust in the #72 Zenshi Nimessa.
Joey Rogers in the Albatross managed to stay out of trouble in the second heat, finishing in the top spot ahead of Maki Taninawa’s Sakura Ronin, after a big accident on the start stretch involving Declan Slater in the #11 Antti ARXL Special and Hammond Hunter in the #10 Deer and Hunt scattered the rest of the field, nearly all of the cars either losing time from running off-track or sustaining damage.
Pablo Sanchez took the top spot in the third heat, finishing well clear of Marika Kazan’s JHW Lynx and slotting into the second-best time of Q3, putting the Shromet in good standing to make the semi-finals with one qualifying round remaining. Mason Olsen and Ashlynn Morganstern collided on their joker lap after the New Zealander slammed the door shut on the hard-charging Canadian, both cars taking a considerable amount of damage on their final lap, putting them well down the field going into Q4.
Sylvester Landon stormed to a gutsy finish in the fourth heat, taking the top time after overcoming a first-lap mistake trying to overtake Hsiu-Yinn Lim. Alexander-John Sierra’s Merciel split Landon’s Isami and Lim’s Armada, running a clean and trouble-free race to finish second. Craig March broke free from Maria Ramirez and Miguel Gonzalez to finish fourth in the heat, leaving the other two drivers behind on the final lap to scrap over fifth place.
Eric Meistermann stormed to a decisive top spot in the final heat, finishing a full six seconds clear of Pekka Heikkinen for the best time of Q3. Heikkinen made and excellent start, and ran three solid laps to put himself clear of Phornsawan Sirisuk’s SBA Rosales, even in spite of a rather mediocre joker lap. Bandit Borgwarnerson had an awful start, bogging the Flamarbol Beryl down hard and ending up dead last at the end of the start chute, but was able to claw his way back to a fourth place finish, just holding off Yuki Fujishima in the Kitanishi and Virtanen in the LATOY, who fought a pitched battle for fifth place.
Q4
The first heat was once again full of casualties of the challenging track here at Silverstone, though many of the teams were able to repair most of the damage before the grid call came out. Alexander Krebs in the #35 Likar took the top spot in the heat, beating out Tom Powell in the #888 Seydel-GNG by half a second at the finish line. Ashlynn Morganstern’s Ars Eligos was fully repaired as well, putting up a decent time to redeem her weekend somewhat, though unfortunately the same could not be said for Declan Slater, whose Antti ARXL was still in a bad way on the grid, and it only got worse from there, finishing far behind Mason Olsen in the NPV and Rudolfs Jansons in the Schwarzburg.
Hammond Hunter avoided sanction from the stewards and was able to make good in the second heat, finishing at the front of the pack, finishing six seconds ahead of Quentin LeTheou in the #99 Flamers machine. Kevin Michaels avoided trouble in his KMC Arrotare to finish third in the heat, though the same could not be said for the rest of the drivers in the heat, as Takumi Fujiwara took out the rest of the field in a minor accident in the start chute, putting an end to the races of Clive Baker of Team WRT, William Cunningham of Mach Schnell and Laurent Faust of ZMD.
Yuki Fujishima took the top spot in the third heat, storming the field with a stunning drive to slot into the second-best time of Q4, cementing the Japanese driver’s spot in the semi-finals after a challenging qualifying day. Eino Vatanen of Delta Motorsport finished second while Einar Poogen finished third, with both drivers consistent driving being rewarded with berths in the semi-finals as well. Timo Vertanen of LATOY had a poor start, and made a further mistake on his first lap, finishing fourth in the heat and just missing out on the semi-finals by the narrowest of margins.
Maria Ramirez took the top spot in the fourth heat, just ahead of Bandit Borgwarnerson, who overcame a very poor start to overtake JHW’s Marika Kazan on the second lap to snatch second place away from the Greek driver. Miguel Gonzalez in the NEMW and Craig March in the Astelli Racing Leopard took third and fourth place respectively, ahead of Hisu-Yinn Lim’s Armada. The Chinese driver suffered yet another scary moment on the track, damaging her car again running wide on the first lap and struggling her way to a sixth-place finish.
Pekka Heikkinen took the top spot in the final heat, and slotted into the top spot overall in Q4 with a commanding drive in the #80 Pepperbomb. Sylvester Landon put quite possibly the most spectacular overtaking move to date over Pablo Sanchez’ Shromet on the final lap, the Isami Vireo braking late and sliding side to side as Landon tested his confidence in the machine and his driving abilities. Eric Meistermann and Alexander John Sierra battled hard for fourth and fifth place, with the Frenchman just edging out the Brit in the end, both drivers leading Phornsawan Sirisuk’s SBA Rosales to the line.
Intermediate Classification
After the the first day, Finland’s Pekka Heikkinen finds himself at the top of the heap, sitting pretty after finishing consistently at the top of the field, while Championship leaders Borgwarnerson and Lim struggled to run consistently all weekend long. Will Team Red Cock Energy Liquid be able to convert their success into a victory tomorrow, or will Bandit Borgwarnerson and Hsiu-Yinn Lim spoil the weekend for the Unflappable Finn?
13 Likes
Oh shit, I need to start paying more attention to the track composition. Is it the ballast that’s starting to hold me up or did I make my driver hate dirt more than she hates the rain???
Either way looks like the solid 10 I gave her in overtaking only succeeded in firing her straight into the barriers again, ROFL 
Edit: turns out I both have amnesia and can’t use drop down menus to save my life. Contrary to my claims earlier, apparently my skills are as follows:
2/10 for both paved and unpaved pace, 10/10 for weather, 6/10 for overtaking and 6/10 for consistency
I’m quite sure I wanted 10 for overtake and 6 for weather, but this does explain why I locked out the last round… Plz rain some more kthx
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I haven’t the foggiest what I set my skills to. But clearly I’ve been slacking as there’s no new press releases in a while; will have to fix that tomorrow.
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Gulp Oil Rallycross of Great Britain, Day Two - Semi-Finals and Final
Semi-Final 1
The good weather from the first day held over today, with the skies clear and bright and the temperatures perfect to enjoy the elimination rounds at Silverstone Circuit. Pekka Heikkinen, who finished on top of the heap yesterday, continued his strong showing, monstering the start and never looking back for the whole race, finishing a commanding fifteen seconds ahead of Hsiu-Yinn Lim in the #16 Armada. Not to say that Lim didn’t have a fight on her hands though, with Phornsawan Sirisuk filling the mirrors of the Armada all race long, the young Thai occasionally getting a sniff ahead of the Armada at times. Maria Ramirez in the #129 Geschenk finished in fourth place, holding off a hard-charging Einar Poogen all race long.
The battle for fourth through eighth place was a tough one, with Ramirez and Poogen fighting hard to stay ahead of Yuki Fujishima, Miguel Gonzales and Alexander-John Sierra; in the end, only a second and a half separated fourth-place Ramirez from eighth-place Sierra. Quentin LeTheou experienced a minor mechanical failure on the grid, which slowed his car down enough that unfortunately he was taken out of contention.
Semi-Final 2
Eric Meistermann found his form from the earlier part of the season, launching the FAAL hard and shooting out to the front of the pack, not relinquishing the top spot for the rest of the race. Behind Meistermann, Sylvester Landon and Craig March had a hell of a battle on their hands, as there was barely anything between the two drivers. March mounted a late charge, with both him and Landon on their joker laps, and were it not for a rather aggressive bit of defensive driving by Landon coming out of the final corner, the Astelli Leopard would have had taken second place. Pablo Sanchez held off Marika Kazan’s aggressive challenges all race long, securing himself a berth in the final race by the narrowest of margins - twenty-five thousandths of a second. Maki Taninawa overcame a poor start to run strong for the first three laps, but the Sakura driver ran wide on the fourth lap, damaging her car and taking herself out of the race. Championship leader Bandit Borgwarnerson struggled with his consistency in this race, making a number of uncharacteristically careless mistakes, after making a rather poor start. In the end, the #100 Flamarbol finished seventh overall, missing the final race for the first time this season.
Final
Pekka Heikkinen shot out to a great start in the final, with Maria Ramirez hot on his heels out of the start chute. Anticipating the Geschenk would be pressuring him too hard, the Finn opted for the joker lap right out of the gate, the clear track allowing Heikkinen to set the best joker time for the session. Unfortunately, Heikkinen binned the Pepperbomb on Lap 2, damaging the car to the point that his race effectively ended right there, as he was able to just barely finish the race without being lapped. Maria Ramirez inherited the lead and never looked back, finishing four and a half seconds ahead of Eric Meistermann. Hsiu-Yinn Lim overcame a poor start to finish third, making up nearly two seconds on Lp 5 and 6 alone, blowing past Sylvester Landon, Pablo Sanchez and Craig March in succession to finish right on the rear bumper of Meistermann in third place in a thrilling sequence. Phornsawan Sirisuk made a couple of serious mistakes, ending their race in seventh, a second ahead of Einar Poogen in the #88 Okul.
Final Classification
With the poor finish of Bandit Borgwarnerson and third-place in the final, Hsiu-Yinn Lim leapfrogged the Flamarbol driver to inherit a slim lead in the championship, with 190 points to Borgwarnerson’s 187. Maria Ramirez and Craig March have managed to close the gap to the two leading drivers, taking ten points each out of the lead and closing the gap as the ARX League swings to Scandinavia for two very challenging races.
Championship Standings
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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo the rest of the season is gonna be damn tight oh man…
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And now the Post Race Interview
with Maria Ramirez
“Esto es un alegria, el equipo nuca creia que ebamos a ganar los finales, el carro se sintio bein, y la fortuna de tomar el primer lugar en la final, fue maravilloso. Ahora es enforcar en el cambio de peso del carro. Alomehor echo la mocha con el peso en el lodo jaja. Pues a chingarle.”
Transcript:
“This was a joy, the team never would though of winning the finals, the car felt great, and the fortune of taking 1st place in the finals, was marvellous. Now its time to focus on hkw the car will feel with the added weight. Maybe i’ll be faster with the added weight in the mud. Well explicitive it.”
please excuse if my spanish is a bit choppy, its been long since i wrote something in spanish.
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