Race:
Everyone got off to a clean start,Daniels lead the pack into turn one and over the first 4 laps etched out a comfortable 7 sec lead, followed by Sofi who has just been getting stronger and stronger as the seaon progresses. Marks and Gill both made a return to the league and new comer Nesci rounded out the pack.
Nesci picked up some damage and hit the pits on lap 5 for repairs. On Lap 6 Gill missed a braking mark and ran hot into a corner and ran across the rough stuff but did well to keep control and quickly rejoined the circuit.
Lap 8 saw Sofi hit the pits looking like a different pit stop strategy to the rest of the field.He rejoined just behind Marks who made an uncharateristic mistake and turned his Mclaren around and rubbed the wall. Making a long trip back around to the pits for repairs.
Gill was getting warmed up and put in some consistant laps and started to close the gap on Sofi, however on lap 10 Sofi noticed this and replied with a few hot laps of his own extending his gap to 3rd and closing the on Daniels. until on Lap 11 Sofi got caught up with Nesci and ended up coming off second best. Losing his front wing he had to limp back to the pits for repairs. moving Gill into 2nd and Marks into 3rd.
Daniels stamped his authority on the race and dominated the field and by lap 15 had over a 1 min gap on the field. It was a clinical performance from Mr Consistency. Lap 15 saw Sofi get past Gill and regain a podium placing and he had his sights set firmly on getting back his number 2 spot. By Lap 19 Nesci car suffered electrical failure seeing and early end to his race.It was a trial by fire from the new comer but with more time in the seat will see him improve greatly in the rounds to come.
Lap 21 saw Sofi pit again and come out just infrom of his felloe Ferrari co driver Gill, on cold tyres Sofi pushed hard to keep his advantage and get heat into his rubber as quickly as possible. Lap 23 saw Marks hit the pits and rejoin only seconds infront of Sofi, Sofi was now up to temp and marks was on cold tryes and feeling the pressure as Sofi closed in. By the end of Lap 24 Sofi was tucked up under Marks rear wing. The Battle continued through Lap 25,26 however the pressure was too much and Marks made a mistake seeing him hit the wall just before the start finish line handing 2nd back to Sofi, Gill waiting in the wings pounced on the opportunity and snuck through into 3rd only 10 secs behind Sofi. All the While Daniels just stayed out the front and continued to put in hot lap after hot lap lapping consistently in the 1.19 bracket.
Gill had a moment on Lap 29 relieving all the pressure from Sofi. with 15 laps remaining can he hold it together for his first podium finish. Lap 33 saw and error and saw Gill and Daniels right on his tail.
Lap 36 saw Daniels go around the outside of the pin head to pass Gill, Gill responded coming up to the main straight and over shot his brake mark and hit the wall losing his front wing. Daniels got past Sofi and they settled back into their rhythm. Daniels pitted on Lap 39 for a the final time for a dash to the line on fresh rubber.
Gill on a technicality was DQ'ed from the event, after hitting the pits lodged his protest with a final decision still pending.
The race closed out in the final laps in the following order Daniels in a dominant start to finish win, followed by Sofi in his best result of the season in 2nd and Marks who had his fair share of dramas through the race managed to cross the line and take the final spot in the podium.
It was a great race on a great circuit. We now look forward to Austria on the 22nd of June.
By Sam Owen
Results:
Finish | Start | Diff | Driver | Laps | Race time | Fastest lap | Qual. time |
1 | 1 | - | Scott Daniels | 45 | 61:19.481 | 1:19.049 | 1:18.841 |
2 | 3 | -1 | Matt Sofi | 43 | +2 laps | 1:19.792 | 1:20.036 |
3 | 2 | +1 | Allan Marks | 42 | +3 laps | 1:21.646 | 1:20.378 |
4 | 4 | - | Adam Gill | 37 | DNF | 1:29.907 | 1:21.014 |
5 | 5 | - | Chris Nesci | 10 | Suspension | n/a | 1:42.462 |
Drivers Standings:
2014 F1 League | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Drivers | Race 1 | Race 2 | Race 3 | Race 4 | Race 5 | Race 6 | Race 7 | Race 8 | Race 9 | Race 10 | Race 11 | Race 12 | Race 13 | Race 14 | Race 15 | Race 16 | Race 17 | Race 18 | Race 19 | Total Points | Current Place | ||
Scott Daniels | 13 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 20 | 17 | 20 | 114 | 1st | ||||||||||||||
Jason Brooks | 0 | 20 | 17 | 20 | 17 | 9 | 0 | 83 | 2nd | ||||||||||||||
Scott McDonald | 20 | 17 | 20 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 77 | 3rd | ||||||||||||||
Matthew Sofi | 0 | 0 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 17 | 54 | 4th | ||||||||||||||
Evan Golbach | 15 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 40 | 5th | ||||||||||||||
Duran Nikora | 17 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 6th | ||||||||||||||
Matt De Groot | 0 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 34 | 7th | ||||||||||||||
Jesse Dunn | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 30 | 8th | ||||||||||||||
Brad Aiken | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 24 | 9th | ||||||||||||||
Iain Salteri | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 20 | 10th | ||||||||||||||
Allen Marks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 | 11th | ||||||||||||||
Adam Gill | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 13 | 12th | ||||||||||||||
Iain McIntosh | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 13th | ||||||||||||||
Chris Nesci | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 12 | 14th | ||||||||||||||
Nick Lowther | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 15th | ||||||||||||||
Peter Hughes | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 16th | ||||||||||||||
David Lord | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 17th | ||||||||||||||
Christopher Romeo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 18th | ||||||||||||||
Andy Lardner | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 19th | ||||||||||||||
Murray Conallin | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 20th | ||||||||||||||
0 | 21st |
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