Moderator's Report
Summary
Greg starts from the pole, but runs a little wide at the exit of turn one. Clive takes the inside line through turn one and moves into the lead. Clive straddles the curb entering turn two causing him to slow more than normal. Greg brakes earlier than normal but not early enough. The result is a major pile up in turn two on lap one. Piero and Greg escape into the distance while everyone else has to wait for the track to be cleared. Later on the first lap, one driver gets it wrong through the chicane, and several other cars have no chance to avoid. Piero leads the first twelve laps of the race, and Greg is close behind. Piero’s engine expires; giving the lead to Greg. Piero stays in second place, and Tim closes the gap with ten laps to go. Tim attempts an overtake on the inside of Piero at Gazometre on lap 29, but does not have the momentum down the start/finish straight. Greg gives up the lead on the last lap when he pulls into a pit box to retire just before crossing the finish line. All of the track marshals start waving their flags even though the leader has not crossed the line. Piero brakes early for the last corner, and Tim makes contact with him. Luckily, Piero is able to continue to the finish line winning the 69 Extra Trophy at Monaco! Tim finishes second and claims the fast lap honors. Clive finishes third after an eventful race.
Server replay time: 0h01m06s
Lap 1 – Turn 2 – Collision between the leaders at Massenet. Evil Clive is in the lead, and GregT is following in the uphill Beau Rivage. Clive drives over the curbing on the right to give room for Greg. As a result of going over the curbs, Clive gets sideways at corner entry causing him to slow more than normal. Greg brakes earlier than normal, but he does not slow down enough to avoid contact. It looks like Greg tries to take a little curb on the left to avoid Clive, but there is nowhere to go. Greg’s right front makes contact with Clive’s left rear tire. The contact turns Clive 90 degrees. Then Greg’s car drives under Clive, and he continues with no loss of time. Clive and five others use a shift-R. Thirteen drivers are involved in the pileup. Greg retires from the race just before crossing the finish line. He effectively gave himself a five position penalty.
From the rule book, the following car is responsible for maintaining a safe gap and the driver needs to be cognizant of the possibility of the lead car slowing for no apparent reason. Despite the obvious transgression, Greg did brake earlier than normal, he tried to move to the left to avoid contact, and ultimately he decided to give himself the penalty before the finish of the race.
Server replay time: 0h01m09s
Lap 1 – Turn 2 – Tim Muttrum uses a shift-R at Massenet, but does not remember to take his stop & go until lap 13. Tim did the noble thing, and he reported his mistake.
As a moderator, I wish that I had some leeway to reduce the penalty. However, the division specific rules on the championship standings page state that "No Stop n Go within 2 laps = DQ. The division specific rule takes precedence over the UKGPL rule book. See Introduction on rules page which states: "Please Note: The Division Specific rules normally complement the Generic rules but where clashes or contradictions exist, the Division Specific rules will always take precedence over the Generic rules."
Server replay time: 0h02m22s
Lap 1 – Chicane du Port – Tim Muttrum does not see the first yellow flag. He does see the yellow flag just before chicane, but he does not have time to slow at that point. He made a glancing contact with Dave Rainier and Axel Cookie which didn’t seem to cause damage but rotated Axel enough to cause him to drive into Martin Hunt and Phil Thornton’s paths and cause a 2nd accident.
The yellow flags were clearly visible. The approaching driver was unsighted because of circuit topography. The cars from the incident were moving. The approaching driver slowed down but contact was made with the cars from the incident.
Server replay time: 0h17m01s
Lap 12 – Turn 2 – Marco Mercaldo runs wide at Massenet. Marco's car is against the guard rail for the middle part of the corner. Evil Clive sees an opportunity to overtake. Marco is able to extricate himself from the wall just as Clive pulls alongside. The gap that was wide enough for a truck to drive through has now shrunk to just the left side of the track. On one hand, Clive did not slow down or give enough room for Marco, but on the other, Marco's line through the corner lured Clive in for an overtake. Clive and Marco have side by side contact causing Marco to use a shift-R.
Monaco is very narrow, and it is difficult to make a clean overtake here. The rule book calls this a Contested Side by Side Contact. In a corner, after a legitimate overtaking attempt the cars end up side by side. Both drivers move over instead of staying on their own side of the track. Contact is made.
