Monza has always been a difficult track for the BMW teams and with the recent unBalance of Performance changes made by iRacing, particularly to the Ruf, things have got worse and so expectations for this race were pretty low.
In the race, the top 9 positions were all taken by Rufs so we were feasting on scraps in the BMWs. Paul and Robin drove a faultless race to finish 12th (2nd place in the non-Ruf Cup), Jake and John 17th, Fokke and Braith 20th and Stephan & Matt N 23rd.
We'll have better and more competitive weekends...
Friday, September 25, 2015
Monday, September 14, 2015
SEK S4 2015 Round 1
Round 1 of the new SEK season was at Mid-Ohio, with the sprint format being used.
With this being the 1st week after a new build, we haven't had much chance to test the car and were still testing and changing setups right until the last moment. So, as is often the case, the team generally struggled in qualifying but had significantly better race pace than their qualifying suggested.
In #66 Fokke qualified 14th but drove an excellent race to slowly make his way up through the field. A very late (and short) pit stop helped his position and he eventually finished an excellent 6th. John and Matt ran in formation for most of the race, with Matt leading initially. A small mistake by Matt let John by and they stayed in that order until the end of the race, John a good 12th from 20th on the grid and Matt 13th from a 19th starting position.
Paul continued his unlucky streak in SEK. He qualified 16th but had a disconnect on lap 1. He lost 2 laps reconnecting and then drove a storming race, running at a similar pace to the leaders. He ended up 21st - way worse than he deserved.
In race 2, Lewis qualified 2nd in #67 and despite challenging Brad Wooten hard before the pit stops, couldn't find a way past and settled for a great 2nd place. Robin, in #68, opted for a fuel saving strategy and managed to get to the end without stopping. He still had good speed and the strategy allowed him to move up from 11th on the grid to 9th at the end of the race. Tommy drove #69 and was heading for a top 10 finish until he got spun (twice!) on the last lap, dropping to 16th. Jake struggled with #66 and had some incidents with another car and wound up 19th.
With this being the 1st week after a new build, we haven't had much chance to test the car and were still testing and changing setups right until the last moment. So, as is often the case, the team generally struggled in qualifying but had significantly better race pace than their qualifying suggested.
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| Paul, Matt and John in the thick of it into T2 |
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| John and Matt had a drag race at one point |
In race 2, Lewis qualified 2nd in #67 and despite challenging Brad Wooten hard before the pit stops, couldn't find a way past and settled for a great 2nd place. Robin, in #68, opted for a fuel saving strategy and managed to get to the end without stopping. He still had good speed and the strategy allowed him to move up from 11th on the grid to 9th at the end of the race. Tommy drove #69 and was heading for a top 10 finish until he got spun (twice!) on the last lap, dropping to 16th. Jake struggled with #66 and had some incidents with another car and wound up 19th.
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| Lewis nearly got the lead on lap 24 |
CESCS Round 8 - Virginia International Raceway
For various reasons, the last 2 rounds of CESCS has been a bit disappointing for the team so a good performance was needed at VIR to regain the momentum we'd had earlier in the season in all the championships.
Stephan was unavailable for this one so Lewis joined John in #67 with the Marco/Christian partnership continuing in #66.
Marco did a lot of testing and setup work during the week and was fastest of all the runners in most sessions. John also ran well and with Lewis and Christian both having extremely good records at VIR, confidence was high at the start of the race session.
Practice went well for #66 - with Christian and Marco both setting very fast times. Lewis was also very fast with #67 but JOhn was badly off pace - a combination of internet access issues, a 5am start and lack of talent putting him way off the pace he'd been in the earlier session.
In qualifying, Christian did a great job to put #66 on pole. John was slow in #67, only qualifying 9th.
At the start, Christian immediately took the lead and although he was challenged initially, slowly edged away from the challengers and was able to keep the lead throughout his stint, stopping to hand over to Marco at lap 24. John drove steadily and although he lost a couple of places initially to people who hadn't qualified, managed to regain 9th place by the end of his spell and also stopped on lap 24 to hand over to Lewis.
Marco drove well although was hampered slightly by problems with his pedals. He lost the lead halfway into his stint but keep the car in contention, particularly as the main challenger (car 490) stopped 2 laps earlier than Marco did, who stopped on lap 48 to hand back to Christian. meanwhile, Lewis was charging through the field setting lap times similar to the leaders and had moved up to 5th by the time he made his tyre/fuel stop on lap 48.
Shortly after all the pit stops were made, a caution was thrown (for "geese on the track"). This brought the field together although we'd been confident that Christian would have been able to catch and pass 490 as that car would certainly have needed another pit stop or to do some major fuel saving. At the restart, Christian stayed with the 490 car and made a great pass when 490's driver made a small mistake. Despite massive (and probably slightly over aggressive) pressure, Christian managed to retain the lead and took a great win for the team, our 1st in the Mustang in CESCS after a couple of near misses.
Lewis started 5th and had a great battle with Kevin Ford, eventually getting by him. He then quickly caught the 3rd placed car and took 3rd place after the 049 car went off track and made contact with Lewis as he came back on track. Lewis was damaged but held onto 3rd for a double podium for the team - a truly awesome result.
The results mean that Marco retakes the driver championship lead and #66 moves to within 4 points of the team championship leaders. In the Mr Clean standings, Marco extends his lead and JOhn moves into 2nd place. Christian move into the top 5 in these standings as well.
Stephan was unavailable for this one so Lewis joined John in #67 with the Marco/Christian partnership continuing in #66.
Marco did a lot of testing and setup work during the week and was fastest of all the runners in most sessions. John also ran well and with Lewis and Christian both having extremely good records at VIR, confidence was high at the start of the race session.
Practice went well for #66 - with Christian and Marco both setting very fast times. Lewis was also very fast with #67 but JOhn was badly off pace - a combination of internet access issues, a 5am start and lack of talent putting him way off the pace he'd been in the earlier session.
In qualifying, Christian did a great job to put #66 on pole. John was slow in #67, only qualifying 9th.
At the start, Christian immediately took the lead and although he was challenged initially, slowly edged away from the challengers and was able to keep the lead throughout his stint, stopping to hand over to Marco at lap 24. John drove steadily and although he lost a couple of places initially to people who hadn't qualified, managed to regain 9th place by the end of his spell and also stopped on lap 24 to hand over to Lewis.
Marco drove well although was hampered slightly by problems with his pedals. He lost the lead halfway into his stint but keep the car in contention, particularly as the main challenger (car 490) stopped 2 laps earlier than Marco did, who stopped on lap 48 to hand back to Christian. meanwhile, Lewis was charging through the field setting lap times similar to the leaders and had moved up to 5th by the time he made his tyre/fuel stop on lap 48.
Shortly after all the pit stops were made, a caution was thrown (for "geese on the track"). This brought the field together although we'd been confident that Christian would have been able to catch and pass 490 as that car would certainly have needed another pit stop or to do some major fuel saving. At the restart, Christian stayed with the 490 car and made a great pass when 490's driver made a small mistake. Despite massive (and probably slightly over aggressive) pressure, Christian managed to retain the lead and took a great win for the team, our 1st in the Mustang in CESCS after a couple of near misses.Lewis started 5th and had a great battle with Kevin Ford, eventually getting by him. He then quickly caught the 3rd placed car and took 3rd place after the 049 car went off track and made contact with Lewis as he came back on track. Lewis was damaged but held onto 3rd for a double podium for the team - a truly awesome result.
The results mean that Marco retakes the driver championship lead and #66 moves to within 4 points of the team championship leaders. In the Mr Clean standings, Marco extends his lead and JOhn moves into 2nd place. Christian move into the top 5 in these standings as well.
Monday, September 7, 2015
SEK Round 10 - Phillip Island
The final round of the championship took the teams to Phillip Island, just south of Melbourne. With the recent strong showings by both the #66 and #67, confidence was high in the team.
The day got off to a bad start when John messed up the entry for car #68 and registered a BMW instead of a Ford so a quick driver reshuffle was required, with Oliver joining John in 68 and Joseph moving to #69 with the 2nd Ford.
Christian and Lewis were both driving solo, with Christian expected to mount the strongest challenge. Both qualified well, with Christian a great 2nd and Lewis 7th although Lewis was a bit disappointed with his time and expected to be able to run higher in the race.
Christian made a great start and led the 1st lap but was then overtaken by the #1 car. Lewis made a cautious start and was 7th at the end of the 1st lap. Christian maintained 2nd and Lewis slowly moved up and was 4th when the pit stop cycle begun. Lewis stayed out longer than any of the front runners and led a few laps before stopping. The 2nd stint was much the same, Christian staying 2nd and Lewis slowly moving forward, taking 3rd during the pit stop cycle.
During the last stint, both Christian and Lewis chased hard but couldn't make much impression on #1 and eventually settled for 2nd and 3rd - making it a great double podium for the team.
In #68, John made steady progress during the 1st half of the race, running as high as 10th at one point although that position was slightly false because of the different strategies cars were on. Oliver drove the 2nd half of the race and did well to keep the car in the top 15.
Joseph had a difficult day in #69 with a variety of incidents and finally a disconnection putting paid to his efforts.
Full results here
The day got off to a bad start when John messed up the entry for car #68 and registered a BMW instead of a Ford so a quick driver reshuffle was required, with Oliver joining John in 68 and Joseph moving to #69 with the 2nd Ford.
Christian and Lewis were both driving solo, with Christian expected to mount the strongest challenge. Both qualified well, with Christian a great 2nd and Lewis 7th although Lewis was a bit disappointed with his time and expected to be able to run higher in the race.
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| Christian was brave at T1 and took the lead into T2 |
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| Christian and Lewis chasing hard during the latter stages of the race |
Joseph had a difficult day in #69 with a variety of incidents and finally a disconnection putting paid to his efforts.
Full results here
BES Week 10 - Phillip Island
Only 3 cars were entered - Christian in the #66 Ford GT3, Robin (making his BES debut) in #67 BMW and Joseph/Gary in #68 Ford.
Christian qualified an excellent 2nd and settled into that position from the start. The MSP #58 Ford was super fast and Christian had no chance of outpacing them. But, on lap 39, the #58 crashed and had to tow, handing Christian the lead he kept to the end although the final few laps were fairly tense with #58 closing him down quickly using fresher tyres after being forced to adopt a 3 stop strategy after their crash. But Christian held on to take his 5th, and the teams 6th, win out of the 10 weeks.
Joseph qualified the #68 in a great 6th place. Gary started in the car and struggled in the traffic and spun on lap 6, dropping the car to 22nd position. But, after that he, and later Joseph, drove really well to recover back to 11th at the end.
Robin had an interesting race. He qualified 19th but made good progress through the traffic, running in the top 10 during his 2nd stint. But he fell victim to some terrible driving by backmarkers and eventually damaged the car beyond repair.
Full results here
Joseph qualified the #68 in a great 6th place. Gary started in the car and struggled in the traffic and spun on lap 6, dropping the car to 22nd position. But, after that he, and later Joseph, drove really well to recover back to 11th at the end.
Robin had an interesting race. He qualified 19th but made good progress through the traffic, running in the top 10 during his 2nd stint. But he fell victim to some terrible driving by backmarkers and eventually damaged the car beyond repair.
Full results here
SEK Round 9 - Twin Ring Motegi
This was a sprint format meeting so 2 separate races.
In the 1st race, we only had #66 and #67 running and with the BMW uncompetitive without Lewis as the driver, hopes rested mainly on Juha in the #66 Ford GT3. He didn't disappoint, with a calm and competitive drive to 4th place and zero incidents.
In race 2, we had a full complement of cars, with Christian in #66, Lewis in #67, John in #68 and Craig in #69.
The best Craig could hope for was to gain positions through attrition and he drove a steady race, bringing the car home 16th.
Somehow, Lewis qualified the #67 BMW 5th and managed to move up to 4th during the race - another amazing drive in an uncompetitive car - the next best BMW was 10th! Christian qualified 4th but struggled in the traffic during the early laps and had an incident that damaged the car, forcing him into an early pitstop, dropping him to 15th. But, a great comeback drive saw him up to 6th by the finish. John qualified the #68 Ford in 9th and drove well, running as high as 5th at one point but eventually following Christian home in 7th place to make 3 BAM cars in the top 7.
Full results Race 1
Full results Race 2
In the 1st race, we only had #66 and #67 running and with the BMW uncompetitive without Lewis as the driver, hopes rested mainly on Juha in the #66 Ford GT3. He didn't disappoint, with a calm and competitive drive to 4th place and zero incidents.
In race 2, we had a full complement of cars, with Christian in #66, Lewis in #67, John in #68 and Craig in #69.
The best Craig could hope for was to gain positions through attrition and he drove a steady race, bringing the car home 16th.
Somehow, Lewis qualified the #67 BMW 5th and managed to move up to 4th during the race - another amazing drive in an uncompetitive car - the next best BMW was 10th! Christian qualified 4th but struggled in the traffic during the early laps and had an incident that damaged the car, forcing him into an early pitstop, dropping him to 15th. But, a great comeback drive saw him up to 6th by the finish. John qualified the #68 Ford in 9th and drove well, running as high as 5th at one point but eventually following Christian home in 7th place to make 3 BAM cars in the top 7.
Full results Race 1
Full results Race 2
BES Week 9 - Twin Ring Motegi
With a lot of the team having real life events over the weekend, only 2 cars were entered - #66 for Christian and Marco (making his BES debut) and #67 for John (driving solo).
Expectations were low - we'd done little work during the week to get a good setup and only Marco had really put in a decent practice effort.
Marco and Christian ran well, running in the top 10 throughout the race and finishing a creditable 7th with a low incident count. Marco's debut was impressive - running around 3/10ths quicker than Christian for most of his stints.
John's race was compromised by an accident early in the race, forcing him to do a tow/reset. He dropped back to 27th place after his stop but recovered well to finish 17th.
Full results here
Expectations were low - we'd done little work during the week to get a good setup and only Marco had really put in a decent practice effort.
Marco and Christian ran well, running in the top 10 throughout the race and finishing a creditable 7th with a low incident count. Marco's debut was impressive - running around 3/10ths quicker than Christian for most of his stints.
John's race was compromised by an accident early in the race, forcing him to do a tow/reset. He dropped back to 27th place after his stop but recovered well to finish 17th.
Full results here
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