The first race of the inaugural World Endurance Championship would see the field travel to Silverstone. The 20 car field including the 3 new faces behind the wheel of the JHW team would have its first serious hit-out in Qualifying. Preseason pace setters Izen where back to their old tricks and locked out the first three positions. The closest competition came from R.J.M however the teams fastest effort fell all but 4 seconds short and to add insult to injury the team was split up by their little brother Class 2 team. The midfield was a blue wash of Ravencraft with the class 1 entry followed by all three class 2 entries. The next group saw Darkshine Designs class 1 entries tied up with Izenâs class 2 entries. The final positions on the grid where tied up by the JHW drivers.
The race saw the Izen class 1 cars easing into a significant lead and building up enough gap to pit and resume in front of the R.J.M cars as car 1 proceeded to pass his teammates and move on down the road. The disappointment for Darkshine Designs started early on in the 3rd hour with a chassis failure and by the halfway point the teams day was done with a pair of engine blow-ups. As the third hour came to a close the number 20 class 2 entry from Ravencraft was also struck down with a chassis failure. The fastest of the R.J.M challenges car 8 faltered at the dying moments of the 3rd hour to leave the slower teammates to take up the challenge. At the half way point the three Izen class 1 cars were burning of into the distance followed by the class 2 R.J.M entry who was consistently pushing away from then pitting to find himself right in front of the R.J.M class 1 cars. Nearly 2 laps behind the Ravencraft class 1 entry was having a lonely time of it in 7th. The two remaining Ravencraft class 2 entries continued to forge on in 8th and 9th in tight battle with the class 2 Izen entries and at the tail of the field but still with all three cars running on debut is the JWM team. Almost simultaneously there was an engine blow-up effecting and JHW car 16 and a chassis failure effecting class 1 entry Izen number 3. No sooner than R.J.M had though that an opportunity to gain some lost points had showed itself an engine failure stopped car 10 in its tracks. The dying moments of the race saw chassis failure for the class 2 cars of 18 and 12 from Ravencraft and Izen respectively. As they crossed the line it was Izen who smashed the first race with a 1-2 finish and the Class 2 car of R.J.M closed out the podium. A disappointing day out for the class 1 R.J.M team saw only 1 car finish and over 600 points lost to Izen. A very tight battle looms in class 2 with less than 100 points separating Izen and JHW and despite some reliability issues Ravencraft is still within 500 points.
Race 2
The IEC headed to Bathurst for the second round of the championship and yet another manufacturer joining the grid in the RaduST Team with two cars and Darkshine Designs headed out on track with a small block version of the class 1 car to form a two vehicle class 2 team swelling the grid to 24 cars with 12 in each class. The new kids on the block RaduST tensed there muscle early and locked out the first row of the grid with a 2:18.26 lap for pole that cleared the fastest Izen challenger by .79 of a second. The Izen cars with their power advantage held positions 3-5 however the next car down the road may have been a surprize with the Ravencraft class 1 entry sitting 3 second behind after closing the gap from Silverstone by 2.5 seconds. The next vehicle inline was the R.J.M class 2 also with a prototype body cleared the class 1 R.J.M cars by 4 seconds and appears to uphold a the pattern of longer straights and longer race times gives an advantage to the prototype body, an ominous sign looking ahead to the le mans 24 hour. The midfield pack from position 10-21 was covered by just 3 second and is set to put on some great racing. Two of the Ravencraft class 2 entries pushed ahead of the group with the third being split by the No.7 Darkshine Designs entry. Then followed the final 2 Darkshine class 1 vehicles and one of the class 2 vehicles with the Izen class 2 team spitting the Darkshine designs entries. The final 3 position fell to the JHW team who seem to have it all to do.
As the race got on the way the Radust cars slowly but consistently pulled away from the higher fuel laden Izen cars carrying around a half a second a lap extra fuel. The first pit-stop for Radust on lap 12 saw the Izen team sneak back front of them but with fresh tyres and carrying similar fuel loads they spent the next 6 laps roping in the Izen cars until the gap was narrowed to around 10 seconds before the Izen cars peeled in to get serviced and returned the track around 35 seconds behind and by the 24th lap the RaduST cars had cleared out to a 40 second lead and with the second stop fell in right behind the Izen cars. What could have been a very intense battle on track was not to be as the rules for this season dictate that a car that moves up behind another vehicle at any stage of the race must be let through without delay and this allowed the RaduST vehicles to clear the Izen team once and for all and by the time both teams stopped on lap 36 the Radust team was over 15 seconds clear of the leading Izen vehicle. But no sooner than the skrews had been tightened a first chink in the armour for the RaduST team with a Chassis failure. The question was did they take to many risks and stretch the envelope to far or was it simply an unlucky teething problem for the new team. The end of the 3rd hour also saw a tough end for two of the class 1 Darkshine Design vehicles with engine failure as the big block let them down. A similar issue for one of the Ravencraft class 2 entries and a chassis failure saw JHW record their first DNF. Throughout the next three hours it became obvious that the R.J.M class 2 entry had posted a very poor qualifying lap and was scooting of in front of the Ravencraft entry. Behind them the R.J.M class 1 cars chugged away. In the midfield the difficult to drive but quite competitive Darkshine Design cars where slipping the midfield and would not pit until the 4th hour. The Ravencraft and Izen class 2 teams chassed hard and finally the JHW cars slipped away but with two cars running they still looked to grab some points. As the 6th hour closed the Ravencraft class 2 team lost another entry to a chassis failure as di JHW to an engine failure and a tough break for the No.3 Izen entry as for the second race in a row they have not finished with yet another chassis failure and with 6 hours of running to go the loss of points has effectively taken him out of the drivers championship. The race settled over the next three hours but as the 9th hour closed the final Ravencraft class 2 entry came to a smoky demise due to an engine failure ending the teams efforts at this round. During the final three hours the RaduST team pushed away out front and looked set to break past 300 laps with around 1:40 to spare but for the No.1 Izen entry trying to minimize the losses and get the same lap count it was much tighter. As the race entered to closing stages the last JHW entry was parked with engine trouble but a silver lining that the reliability issues will allow them to make design changes to the vehicle before the upcoming rounds. In the final moments of the race the question was could the Radust driver put a lap on the Izen driver and with a gap of 1:40 it was to close to call and as the flag dropped less than .9 of a second infront of the Izen driver the RaduST team celebrated a 1 lap advantage on debut. The second Izen car crossed the line 2:24 down the road from his team mate showing what a difference the driver can make. 4th place was taken by the first of the class 2 runners in R.J.M followed by Ravencrafts No.4 entry. The R.J.M class 1 team filled positions 6-8 and took home the highest points haul of any team. The Darkshine Design class 1 team cheered home their first finisher of the season and was followed by both Class 2 entries. 12-14 positions where taken out by the class 2 Izen team who continue to look bulletproof leading the manufacturers championship not just in class but overall.
In class 1 the R.J.M team closed down a 600+ points deficit and piled on a 60 point lead entering the second third of the championship. The divers championship has No.2 just infront of the higher priced No.1 driver for Izen but with the new challenge from RaduST and the Ravencraft No.4 entry less than 100 points behind this could really go down to the wire. In class 2 the R.J.M team is in a league of its own for chear pace and the No.14 is taking advantage with a near 200 point lead.
The next round heads to Fuji for a 6 hour events and with lack of long straight expect the non-prototype vehicles to close back in with what promises to be a hard fought race followed by Le mans which promises so much for RaduST and Ravencraft in class 1 and R.J.M in class 2
and a look at the Bathurst 12 hour winner
