Here are the race reports for what turned into a fantastic weekend for us. Exciting racing and almost non-stop action. Read how we got on below... Links to watch the video replays at the bottom.
Qualifying
Jaap Wagenvoort is the first man to set a time in his bid for pole, with his first flyer at a 1:21.4 but is quickly demoted down the pack by Arttu Nieminen's 1.21.4 followed by Clank Hughes, Jack Smith and Sammy Salem who all slot ahead of the Inforward driver. Oscar Williams puts in his quickest time so far on his second lap out of the pits which puts him into the 1:20.7, with his team mate Jack piping Salem into 2nd but almost half a second behind pole.
Nieminen comes back at his championship rival grabbing the top spot back with a 1:21.650. Oscar's next lap is slightly slower with a 1:20.688 virtually nothing between the pair. Salem manages to place his car ahead of Jack in their battle for 3rd on the grid. Wagenvoort's respectable 1:21.4 now slowly drops him down to 7th as he can't seem to improve on his initial lap. Tim Draper just nudging him down a slot. Jack pips Salem for 3rd with a 1:21.054 vs. Salem's 1:21.070 before both drivers lower their times to 1:20.932 and .935 respectfully.
Entering the final 2 minutes of the session, Oscar strikes a blow to Nieminen's hopes for the top spot with a 1:20.609, before lowering that further to a 1:20.588. With all eyes now on Nieminen's response to Oscar's lap but is unable to find any extra time and has to settle for 2nd. Wagenvoort manages to improve on his time with a small improvement but jumps him back into 6th place for the start marginally ahead of Draper and Martijn Van T Land, with all three drivers posting 1:21.4's. Triple Eight's new signing Dave Southword would line up 9th just beating Mex Jansen in 10th by just 002 of a second.
Race 1
If the race was about the reaction times at the lights, Nieminen would have the race in the bag. Just a fraction of a second faster than his rival was enough for him to gain the lead into turn 1, Oscar conceded the position and the pair begin to edge away. Similarly it is Salem who gets ahead of Jack through turn 2 after going side by side into turn 1. Wagenvoort gains on his team mate Hughes and is up to 5th after a great start, then with a fantastic drive out of turn 2 is alongside Jack going into turn 3 and gains another position. Although it's mostly a clean first couple of corners, towards the rear both Snode Jager and Thomas Marshall run individually off the track going into turn 1. Richard Tippet eyes up David Bull for an overtake down into the tight section of the track but isn't able to get the traction out of the corner and is gently nudged by Martin Jatzek dropping him down to 16th.
Dave completely misses his braking point and unfortunately for Hughes and Draper, he collects both of them with the mistake, clattering all three cars into the gravel. As Nieminen and Oscar begin to pull a gap over Salem, it's Oscar who looks the faster of the pair, gaining fractions every corner. Richard makes another move on Jatzek for 14th, he darts his car to the inside as Jatzek moves across to defend, Richard throws his car to the outside into the tight section, putting him on the inside for the next corner but Jatzek turns in on him causing Richard to slide sideways and to have to catch the car from spinning, all the while Stefano Amodei has been watching the fight is able to narrowly nip through into the 15th place.
Oscar starts the 3rd lap harassing Nieminen for the lead and manages to make an excellent move down the inside of Nieminen, who holds his line through the next corner but eventually has to back out of it, allowing the Vermin driver regain the lead. Navayo Klink and Douglas Falcon squabble over 9th with Tim Omloo not far behind rounding out the top 10. Van T Land makes up a position on Jordi Lowijs who has a comfortable but small gap of around 3 seconds between him and Klink, which is reduced to about 2 seconds when Lowijs' car goes sideways, but impressively he is able to catch the car and keep it on track, just dropping off the back of Van T Land for 7th. Klink and Falcon continue their close battle as again, Falcon looks to get past and Klink defends well to remain ahead, with another lap tucked behind his competitor, Falcon dives down the inside line in a repeat of his attempt a few laps before, this time he makes it stick.
Ciprian Stoian surfs the gravel trap and taps the wall, luckily his mistake doesn't cost him any places but does put him in the reach of Bull, Dave and Richard. Wagenvoort has been holding Jack back almost the entire race, with Jack sniffing the exhaust pipe of the car in front, he tries for a better run out of one of the corners, but his tyres have had enough as they send him drifting sideways, with Jack catching the car, releasing Wagenvoort and letting though Jansen into 5th.
Richard inherits the final points position after Stoian has another adventure off the track and through the gravel. Falcon finds himself having to defend his 9th place, as Omloo's car is now alive and the young driver is looking for a way steal away 9th. Falcon would soon find himself out of the top 10 as he took a trip off the track, handing 10th to Hughes. Williams takes victory with Nieminen never able to find that bit extra to pass but never letting Oscar get too far away and with the pair quite easily away from the chasing pack. Salem kept his usual cool to take 3rd ahead of Wagenvoort, Jansen and Jack.
1. Williams
2. Nieminen
3. Salem
Race 2
Hughes makes the most of the reverse grid pole and sets off perfectly with Omloo and Lowijs following close behind. A rare mistake from Nieminen collects several cars, most notably Wagenvoort and Salem are innocent victims of Nieminen's costly mistake drops him down TO 19th and Wagenvoort down to 16th. Lowijs finds a way past Omloo for 2nd as Jack is looking for a way through in 4th, as Omloo looks to retake 2nd place back, going 3 wide into a hairpin, all 3 showing true respect, good race craft and maturity, none of them making any contact, Omloo comes out ahead but the scrapping has allowed Hughes to build a 4 and a half second lead on lap 1. Oscar who started 10th is now in 6th and darting all over the rear of Jansen.
Lowijs starts to lose places as Jack runs his car around the outside of the Nova Finlandia, seizing the moment behind Oscar squeezes his chance and 4th place, Jansen catches himself out and tags the rear wheel of Lowijs and ends up on a one way ticket ride to the tyre barrier dropping down to 14th. Omloo absorbs the pressure of being chased for another lap, but Jack is able to muscle past around the outside. Omloo defends against Oscar, but an amazing drive out of turn 1 going around the outside of Omloo in turn 2 puts Oscar back on the podium, the move opens the door for Lowijs, however it's Dave who takes advantage of the team mates fighting each other and goes around the outside of both Nova cars and into 4th. Lowijs does make it past Omloo in the same move.
Nieminen has been quiet and working his way back up, banging wheels with Richard to pass for 16th. Lowijs race sadly got worse as a spin drops him out of the top 10, Wagenvoort driving a very determined race edges his way back into 10th. Van T land and Bull make contact putting both onto the grass and losing points. Robbe Kinable spins off exiting a corner and in a separate incident Richard spins off at the same corner in symphony, then Richard rejoins the track only to be collected by Amodei and pitched into another spin. The hairpin becomes the overtaking spot of the day, Draper successfully passes Omloo and in a copy cat maneuver Wagenvoort takes Klink for 7th. Oscar and Jack swap places, allowing Oscar to chase down Hughes in the remaining 10 minutes. Jatzek and Van T Land come together, a frustrating second race for Van T Land as he retires from the race having been involved with so many other drivers mistakes throughout.
Jack then makes a mistake of his own spinning and letting Dave and Draper through. Wagenvoort now finds himself trying to take 6th place from Omloo, a brave move around the outside on tyres this old is a good attempt but the lack of grip means he cannot complete the move and has to back out when the tyres begin to lose grip. Nieminen has managed to claw his way into 10th after the uncharacteristic scruffiness of the first lap. Wagenvoort still stuck behind Omloo, starts to struggle with his tyres some wheel spin out of one of the corners allows Jansen to close the gap and dive to the outside, forcing Wagenvoort to defend and locks up allowing Jansen to take 7th away. Jack manages to get draper for 4th and tries to catch Dave.
Wagenvoort's tyres and luck both seem to be running very thin, as he attempts another move on Jansen only to slide and drop back from the pair dicing over 6th. Jansen is bringing his car to life after a rather subdued race, quietly working his way up he manages to pass Omloo, who has been brilliant in defending all race long but unable to match the speed of those around him. Nieminen makes it past an angry Wagenvoort who would not be pleased to see Nieminen in front of him after their first lap coming together.
Oscar has been pumping in the fastest times and closes right up onto the rear of Hughes with under 2 minutes left, the gap is down to less than half a second separates them. As Dave lets through Jack for 3rd in a gentleman's agreement move between the main and development team, Dave having one of the best races. Oscar makes his car as large as possible in the mirrors of Hughes as the pair begin the final lap nose to tail, going into the back section Oscar gets amazing drive and positions his car on the outside, Hughes is forced to take tighter lines but refuses to yield, they are side by side into the final corner with the race to the line being a out and out drag race, Oscar continually making up time down the straight they are almost nose to nose at the line, it is Hughes would just manages to stay in front, winning by just 0.22 of a second!
An absolutely breathtaking finish to an exciting weekend. Hughes drove very well to remain in front, but Oscar showed his pace and determination for this championship. Jack finishes off on the podium with a very good 3rd and Dave sadly misses out on a podium for Triple Eight but really proves himself as a vital signing to the team. Nieminen picks up some points with 8th but his lead in the drivers championship is crucially slashed.
1. Hughes
2. Williams
3. Smith
Watch the replay here
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