3 races in and Season 29 didn’t look to be settling out into
the normal one horse race we’ve seen in seasons 25 and 27. Only Toygun’s car
failure in race 1 had prevented him from leading the championship. But he
wasn't in the mood to give up. There’s a record 4th championship to
be won, Toygun and Justinas both fighting hard for it.
Looking down the championship, it’s good to see that there are now 40 starters as there was in Canada. I often find that having managers drop out when promoting to Elite is a disappointment for those performers in Master that haven’t quite got through. This time last season, Wojciech Uzikowski was an unlikely leader in the championship by virtue of his consistent 2nd places in every race whilst other manager had hit and miss races for the top step. This season sees him on the edge of relegation. A shame for a manager of such a good standing in the past.
Qualifying closed with all 40 managers qualifying, Araik Karpetayan bringing up the back end of the grid, over 12.5 seconds slower over the 2 qualifying laps. Atis Praudins set a slightly surprising pole ahead of Justinas. Atis’ Tiger beating Justinas’ black-liveried car by just over 0.1s. Toygun started 8th with another Elite favourite Heidi Aareskoski starting 19th.
Atis lead away at the wet start, with Aleksej Sutkin losing his 3rd place on the grid to Mindaugas Sarocka. Toygun made it into 7th, overtaking Vsevolod Demydov off the start. Meanwhile, Karepetayan was up into 24th at the end of lap 2 after a stunning getaway.
The rain stopped on lap 4, with Atis, Justinas, Leadro and Toygun peeling off into the pits immediately to allow Sarocka to take the lead ahead of Sutkin. The remaining top 5 then all went in the pits the following lap and Chris Hewitt took the lead on wet tyres for lap 6, Sagatas in second with Justinas finishing the top 3.
Chris Hewitt had the wrong tyres on for the track and was lapping 5 seconds slower than the leaders, a true showing of how having the right tyres makes a difference. Sagatas was leading, his Badyear tyres were starting to feel the pain against Justinas with his Bridgerocks.
Justinas took the lead on lap 14, with 7th placed Toygun within 5 seconds. Meanwhile, it was Sarocka who was setting the fastest laps on laps 15 and 16, slowly making his way through the field. Daneks Britals gave him some difficulty in passing him for 4th place, eventually Sarocka was past on lap 24 when Daneks pitted, and had also passed Sagatas’ tiger aswell, putting him in 3rd position and only 3 seconds off the lead. Justinas pitted on lap 25, coming back out in 9th, whilst current leader Atis pitted on lap 27 with Sarocka, Toygun and Leandro, coming out 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th respectively.
Demydov had inherited the lead due to his 1-stop strategy, he eventually handed Justinas the lead on lap 37. Leaving him free to run to the end, surely?
The top 3 (Justinas, Atis and Sarocka) were now separated by just 0.8s, which Mindaugas quickly closed to 0.4s
Going into the second pitstop window. All 40 cars were still running, with 40th place Alan Tansley 4 laps behind. Justinas took an earlier pitstop on lap 46, leaving the pressure of 2 cars behind him within 1 second. He came out 9th and was hoping for a few quick laps to give him some breathing space, but when Mindaugas emerged from the pits, he had leapfrogged Justinas. The regining champion’s plan had faltered. Atis had pitted and come out in front of Justinas, but behind Mindaugas as the situation reversed! Sarocka took the lead on lap 54, but it was still tight between the top 3. Toygun had also capitalised on a good pitstop time to make 4th place, and 5 valuable championship points. Justinas had obviously slowed down by now, dropping to over 2 seconds behind Sarocka. The entire race seemed to settle down for the last few laps with positions set. But Justinas had obviously made a miscalculation on the fuel as he pitted on the penultimate lap. Perhaps a onset by the quick end to the rain? He eventually finished 7th, promoting Toygun to 3rd.
Full race summary can be found here
Looking down the championship, it’s good to see that there are now 40 starters as there was in Canada. I often find that having managers drop out when promoting to Elite is a disappointment for those performers in Master that haven’t quite got through. This time last season, Wojciech Uzikowski was an unlikely leader in the championship by virtue of his consistent 2nd places in every race whilst other manager had hit and miss races for the top step. This season sees him on the edge of relegation. A shame for a manager of such a good standing in the past.
Qualifying closed with all 40 managers qualifying, Araik Karpetayan bringing up the back end of the grid, over 12.5 seconds slower over the 2 qualifying laps. Atis Praudins set a slightly surprising pole ahead of Justinas. Atis’ Tiger beating Justinas’ black-liveried car by just over 0.1s. Toygun started 8th with another Elite favourite Heidi Aareskoski starting 19th.
Atis lead away at the wet start, with Aleksej Sutkin losing his 3rd place on the grid to Mindaugas Sarocka. Toygun made it into 7th, overtaking Vsevolod Demydov off the start. Meanwhile, Karepetayan was up into 24th at the end of lap 2 after a stunning getaway.
The rain stopped on lap 4, with Atis, Justinas, Leadro and Toygun peeling off into the pits immediately to allow Sarocka to take the lead ahead of Sutkin. The remaining top 5 then all went in the pits the following lap and Chris Hewitt took the lead on wet tyres for lap 6, Sagatas in second with Justinas finishing the top 3.
Chris Hewitt had the wrong tyres on for the track and was lapping 5 seconds slower than the leaders, a true showing of how having the right tyres makes a difference. Sagatas was leading, his Badyear tyres were starting to feel the pain against Justinas with his Bridgerocks.
Justinas took the lead on lap 14, with 7th placed Toygun within 5 seconds. Meanwhile, it was Sarocka who was setting the fastest laps on laps 15 and 16, slowly making his way through the field. Daneks Britals gave him some difficulty in passing him for 4th place, eventually Sarocka was past on lap 24 when Daneks pitted, and had also passed Sagatas’ tiger aswell, putting him in 3rd position and only 3 seconds off the lead. Justinas pitted on lap 25, coming back out in 9th, whilst current leader Atis pitted on lap 27 with Sarocka, Toygun and Leandro, coming out 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th respectively.
Demydov had inherited the lead due to his 1-stop strategy, he eventually handed Justinas the lead on lap 37. Leaving him free to run to the end, surely?
The top 3 (Justinas, Atis and Sarocka) were now separated by just 0.8s, which Mindaugas quickly closed to 0.4s
Going into the second pitstop window. All 40 cars were still running, with 40th place Alan Tansley 4 laps behind. Justinas took an earlier pitstop on lap 46, leaving the pressure of 2 cars behind him within 1 second. He came out 9th and was hoping for a few quick laps to give him some breathing space, but when Mindaugas emerged from the pits, he had leapfrogged Justinas. The regining champion’s plan had faltered. Atis had pitted and come out in front of Justinas, but behind Mindaugas as the situation reversed! Sarocka took the lead on lap 54, but it was still tight between the top 3. Toygun had also capitalised on a good pitstop time to make 4th place, and 5 valuable championship points. Justinas had obviously slowed down by now, dropping to over 2 seconds behind Sarocka. The entire race seemed to settle down for the last few laps with positions set. But Justinas had obviously made a miscalculation on the fuel as he pitted on the penultimate lap. Perhaps a onset by the quick end to the rain? He eventually finished 7th, promoting Toygun to 3rd.
Full race summary can be found here
PRO-4: Alain Day
In Pro-4 it’s been a very competitive 1st 4 round with the highest scorer Mateusz Walendziuk only scoring 16 points. 10 different drivers have scored 10 points already at least leaving this as the guessing game for gamblers. Mateusz won the last race at Montreal, this being his 2nd ever victory in a Pro group & his 4th victory overall in GPRO. “Well, my friends from Barrows Motorsport think that I will get a promotion without any trouble, so with a bit of lucky and good work 1st place it's possible. In my opinion, it will be really difficult, because Pro-4 don't have any players who can win 2-3 races in a row. Next, I lead the group after R4, but I have only 16 points. Managers from Top10 are really close to have a TOP4 position after Valencia GP. So finally, I think that 1st place (and promotion) can depend on a really small things, like random or pit stop times in race. Taking points in every race is a must to win in Pro-4.” This is what he described after winning a great race dominated by Polish drivers in Pro-4. “I feel absolutely great, I didn't expect to win [I wanted it really, but when it stopped rain, I understood that I will get another pit stop at the end of race]. But driver performance was brilliant in dry weather; he "scored" many perfect laps and didn't make any mistakes. The only bad thing that I again lost a sponsor in negotiations. I hope that my friend from Barrows Motorsport 1, Karol Duracz, also takes many points and promotion. Marek also has had a great season, I heard that he has nice Tech. Director.
Now I can't expect who will get a place in TOP4 of Pro-4 at the end of Season 29, but I hope for Karol, probably Peter will get that too, but managers on further positions can be close to that [Chris Gabler, Kiran Patel, Wouter Kirstein]. I think about my chances as a 50%-50%. If I won't waste too much money, it's possible.” This showed how pleased he was after he lead a top-3 Polish race in Pro-4. Mateusz has nearly scored as many points as he did last season scoring 20 points including a win in the last round of last season. The Barrow Motorsport team leader (the team Mateusz Walendziuk is in) Karol Duracz was also reached for a couple of questions. This is what he had to say. I feel good, knowing that our work is not wasted. Mateusz is our student, but now grows into a leader BM2... I hope that his experience will help him and us to achieve ever better results. The purpose of each of us is to promote to the elite and then fight for the championship. Mateusz is a valuable player for us and helps us to gain experience, data, and live in our team by providing the forum.
A little bit lower down the table Joci Barabas has been the unlucky driver in Pro-4 by finishing 9th place twice already this season. His team Pole to Pole Racing are surely thinking “he will score very soon.” He only recently promoted from Amateur-38 with winning the group with 93 points so it’s not saying he won’t score. This is also the Hungarian’s 1st season in a Pro group and I wish him all the best for the rest of the season. Another driver that looks to possibly be scoring points soon is Vlad Pisanenko. His experience in Pro may give him the upper hand but with only have an overall of 121 for his current driver, it could be difficult especially with having a technical director. Hopefully his team-mates Maximum Overdrive Academy can drive Vlad to getting some points.
Pro-4 seems to also be a good group where money is concerned with only having 2 managers being in negative for finances after 4 rounds. The best manager for finances is Mateusz Walendziuk with $91million. It does seem like he is currently the favourite for being the Pro-4 winner at seasons end.
In the group cup the 1st seed Peter Thompson has to go into a decider with 11th seed Kiran Patel after Patel won at Indianapolis. This proves to be a nervous time for both as Thompson could be a surprise knockout in the cup but anything can happen in a cup. Thompson however is part of the legendary Martini Racing while Patel is a member of Versant Racing. I see Thompson making it through to the next round but Patel I am sure will make it difficult so Thompson needs a good car to make it through to round 2. Another possible shock comes from 3rd seed Mihai Mihaescu. He’s been put in a scare from Italian Luca Foietta. The Romanian Mihai looks certain to go through to round 2 but with his inconsistency so far this season you’ve got to wonder if the next round will be a good round or a bad round. We’ll see what will happen plus lots of other possible cup heartbreaks on Friday at Valencia.
The slightly shocking thing for a Pro-4 is that only 22 managers have a technical director. The best technical director based on overall is Wouter Kirstein’s Technical Director Gavin Prew. He’s currently 8th place in the leader board of Pro-4.
Now for the race itself from round 4 at Montreal. The shock again comes from English driver Thompson with qualifying 31st place. He starts with dry tyres to hope that the rain goes quickly enough. It goes on lap 4 & after all of the stops he gets into the lead. He’s being followed by a few surprised drivers including Zelek & Da Rocha. However next lap he dropped down to 3rd after sliding on oil. Walendziuk then managed to gain the lead from Zelek on lap 9 and already managed to pull a 2.7 second gap at the end of the lap that the Polish driver gained the lead. While 1 Polish driver was going very well another one was starting to go backwards with Poplawski locking his brakes and running wide. While that is happening Zaluski makes a good manoeuvre by passing Gabler for 11th. Bykov was the 1st driver to make a scheduled stop on lap 24. Pit stops seem to be reasonably quick for most managers, the quickest going to Poplawski with a 17.203 second stop on lap 55. In the end it was Mateusz Walendziuk who won by 12 seconds from Marek Poplawski with Karol Duracz completing the podium. Pedro Moreno managed to make a surprise by finishing 4th after a race that could’ve gone any way. 5th place goes to Andrej Borsuk for his 3rd 5th place in a row. The final 3 points positions were Jan Zaluski in 6th, Peter Thompson in 7th & Christopher Gabler in 8th taking the final point.
You can find the full race summary here
This group I believe is a group to watch for the entire season and with the season only just beginning it looks to be the guess of the season for who going to be in the top 4 never mind the group winner. We’ll see who will win the group & promote at the end of the season at Melbourne in Australia on March 9th.
AMATEUR-8: Gamesh SomasundaramQualifying
36 managers qualified for the 4th race of S29. It was quite a high number. Deigo Borcoi took pole position and was 1.513s clear of the 2nd placed J.Torres. J.Revidiego completed the front row with total qualify time of 3:01.936s. One thing was noticed in the qualifications; none of the promotion-intending managers did their qualifications well. All the rookies took the front positions. Group leader Irwan Zirwanda started 13th and 2nd placed Ganesh Somasundaram started 11th.
Race
The race started wet. Pedro Silva advanced 11 places in the first lap(probably a false start??!!). But Deigo lost 4 places at the start, going down 5th. Kamil made a great start gaining 9 places at the start but Paul Duncea was overtaken by 6 cars. Vova made a sudden upsurge and goes 3 places up. Paul Burgess lost 6 places at the start. Were the qualifying nightmare for the group leaders continued to the race?? Lap 23 saw Simon Murphy in the lead with a gap of 15.016s from Paul Burgess. Listwan pitted and Popielski started smoking. Paulik was in the 3rd place, 23.266s behind the leader. The fastest lap was made by Kovacshazi who was 17th in the group before the race!!! What is happening!!
Simon continued his dominance throughout the race and held onto the lead in Lap 46. Paulik was still lurking behind him, 36.382s behind. Meanwhile, Borcoi had climbed his way up the grid and was 4th, 5.336s behind 3rd placed Paulik.
Simon Murphy won the race comprehensively, 23.165s ahead of Burgess. Paulik completed the podium, thus pushing his way up the table. Cherkasoff overtook La Fuente in the last lap to finish 6th and move 3 places up the table. Ganesh Somasundaram finished 14th and pushed himself down to 4th in the table.
Tadas set the fastest lap of 1:21.743s on Lap 59 and Ritvanen set the fastest pit time of 19.976s on Lap 6.
You can find the full race summary for this race here
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