With a mixture of high speed corners and twisty infield, Lausitzring provided an exciting and unpredictable race for Round 2 of the Racecentre 2015 DTM league. It was the place where Alex Zinadi unfortunately lost both his legs in a horrific accident. Lets hope the guys drive fast but safely.
Qualifying: >>Results<<
The short qualifying session meant many drivers struggled to get a clean lap with the amount of traffic on the short track. Francarlo Rizzo held the provisional pole position for the majority of the qualifying session with a lap time of 1:18.252, until championship leader Ross Rizzo stole the pole position by 4 tenths with his final flying lap. NSW’s Chris Naumovski and Jaycie Richards will be starting race 1 behind the Rizzo brothers in P3 and P4 respectively.
Race 1: >>Results<<
Starting from P2, championship leader Ross Rizzo made a perfect start and was P1 by the first corner. He left the pack behind him and was untouchable throughout the race. Behind him however, was more chaotic as the midfielders had a massive accident at the tight turn 1. Pole sitter Francarlo Rizzo was one of the many cars involved in the accident. With a damaged car, F. Rizzo struggled to make progress and ultimately finished in P6. Naumovski and Richard rounded up the podium, with Richards finished only 2 seconds behind Naumovski. Allan Marks finished in P4, with Pat O’Reilly behind in P5.
Race 2: >>Results<<
With a reverse grid, all eyes were on the Rizzo brothers who were starting at the back of the grid. The tight turn 1 proved to be tricky for the drivers, with another turn 1 accident sending a few drivers onto the grass at the outside of T1. The Rizzo brothers took full advantage of it, with Ross Rizzo taking the victory and his brother F. Rizzo finishing second. The degrading tyres caught out a few drivers and provided an exciting race with many drivers choosing a variety of strategies. Shane Gilfeather benefited the most, when he pitted at lap 9 for fresh tyres. Gilfeather was catching the front runners at over 3 seconds a lap, ultimately finishing the race in P3.
Race 3: >>Results<<
The 20 laps in race 3 proved to be a nail-biting race, with battles up and down the grid all through the race. Francarlo Rizzo had the jump on his brother Ross off the line. Further back on the grid, drivers were more cautious this time at turn 1 and most drivers got through the first turn cleanly. With lessons learnt from the previous race, most drivers elected to pit around lap 10 for fresh boots. The similar race strategies of the drivers meant most drivers had to do their overtaking on-track, against similarly paced opponents.
Ultimately Francarlo Rizzo spoiled his brother Ross’ hat-trick, with Francarlo taking the victory of race 3 with his brother Ross closely behind. Jaycie Richards had a rather lonely race, being unable to challenge the Rizzo brothers but too fast for the rest of the grid. Richards finished the race in P3 rounding up the podium. Despite an early incident with Allan Marks, Chris Herringe managed to charge through the field and finished P4 while Marks came home in P5.
By Jonathan Cheung
Championship Points:
2015 DTM League | |||||||||||||
Drivers | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | Round 7 | Round 8 | Drop Rounds | Total Points | Current Place | ||
Ross Rizzo | 20 | 20 | 40 | 1st | |||||||||
Francarlo Rizzo | 17 | 17 | 34 | 2nd | |||||||||
Jaycie Richards | 15 | 15 | 30 | 3rd | |||||||||
Allan Marks | 11 | 13 | 24 | 4th | |||||||||
Chris Naumovski | 8 | 12 | 20 | 5th | |||||||||
Pat O'Reilly | 10 | 9 | 19 | 6th | |||||||||
Jeremy Persnez | 9 | 8 | 17 | 7th | |||||||||
Karl Raper | 13 | 0 | 13 | 8th | |||||||||
Michael Donnellan | 7 | 6 | 13 | 9th | |||||||||
Chris Herringe | 3 | 10 | 13 | 10th | |||||||||
Shane Gilfeather | 2 | 11 | 13 | 11th | |||||||||
Iain Mcintosh | 12 | 0 | 12 | 12th | |||||||||
Brad Martin | 4 | 7 | 11 | 13th | |||||||||
Enda Murphy | 6 | 0 | 6 | 14th | |||||||||
Marcus Marshall | 5 | 0 | 5 | 15th | |||||||||
Kyle Wadley | 0 | 5 | 5 | 16th |
Championship Points:
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