Moderator's Report
After making his pit stop at the end of Lap 2, Hristo looses the lead to Lorenzo. But he is soon on Lorenzo's tail and pushing him hard through Wehrseifen. Incessant pressure finally forces Lorenzo into a small mistake at Schwalbenschwanz and Hristo is through to claim his sixth straight win of the season.
Lorenzo is in a secure second place when he runs out of road at Nordkehre on the last lap and his BRM is beached on the banking. This opens the door to Kruger and Clive who grab the runner-up and final podium place respectively. A special mention must be made for Steven Foster who was the only other runner to complete the race distance finishing in fourth spot and securing some valuable points for the Coopermen.
There were a couple of below par pit stops in this race. Drivers are reminded that cars must stop within half a car's width of the stalls regardless of the presence of stall markings. There are two reasons for this:
1. To ensure the pit lane is not blocked.
2. To ensure a driver does not gain an unfair advantage by effectively shortening their stop.
Where the actual advantage gained is difficult to quantify, it is normal policy award a standard 5 second time penalty.
Server replay time: 0h00m53s
Lap1 - Start Line - Chris Bull and Neil Stratton
Chris gets a good start but has to back off because the car ahead of him, driven by Burt, had bogged down on the line. Burt starts to pull away but nevertheless Chris decides to drift right just as Neil, who had made a blistering start, is along side. Warp contact is made and Neil is sent into a spin.
Chris was unfortunate to get hindered but this was not a good enough reason for drifting off-line to the extent that he did. However given that no actual contact took place this must go down as a warp incident.
Advice - Drivers must not drift off-line at the start unless they are absolutely sure no car is along side.
Server replay time: 0h04m05s
Lap 1 - Kallenhard - Neil Stratton, Robert Burton and Steven Foster
Neil goes for the inside at Kallenhard, one of the few overtaking opportunities on this section of the track. He gets alongside but Burt either doesn't see him or decides not to give him room. Burt turns in and minor contact is made but warp exacerbates it and Burt is punted off into the hedge. Neil continues seemingly unaffected. As Burt tries to extricate himself from the hedge, Steven (who is unsighted because it is a blind bend) cannot stop and very slight contact is made. Unfortunately warp intervenes and the minor contact results in Burt losing a wheel. Steven continues but Burt is out of the race.
In the initial incident, Neil had sufficient overlap to challenge but not to claim the corner outright. Burt should have yielded but chose to contest the corner. This was a contested pass so goes down as a racing incident. The final warpy contact that ended Burt's race was simply bad luck.
Server replay time: 0h09m41s
Lap 1 - Pit Lane - EvilClive
Clive was more than the mandatory distance from the stalls during his pit stop.
Server replay time: 0h15m12s
Lap 2 - Wippermann - Brendan Wright and Neil Stratton
Brendan is recovering from a spin at Hohe-Acht but is not quite up to speed as Neil powers by on the approach to Wippermann. Brendan tries to tuck in behind but Neil is in the braking zone. Brendan gets too close and contact is made, both drivers spin out. Brendan looses a wheel and is out of the race, Neil continues.
No contact was evident on the server replay, warp incident.
Server replay time: 0h17m52s
Lap 2 - Pit Lane - Kruger Enge
Kruger was more than the mandatory distance from the stalls during his pit stop.