Moderator's Report
Summary
Clive Loynes cruised to what looked like an easy victory, twenty four seconds clear of the field after setting pole position. But that would be misleading, he was hounded in the early laps by Evil Clive and he had to nurse the delicate Lancia motor to bring the car safely home on an unforgiving track. Doni Yourth drove an exceptional race to progress from seventh on the grid to second place. A solid drive from Enrique secured the final podium spot.
Server replay time: 0h02m41s
Lap 1 - Windmill Bend - Petr Romanov and Raoni Frizzo
Raoni is a couple of car lengths behind Enrique Farina as they round the right hander after Riding School with Petr about ten car lengths further back. Enrique makes a mistake and clips the straw bales on the inside of the curve which slows him down. This allows Raoni to close up, but he doesn’t attempt a pass because, although Enrique has lost momentum and speed, this hasn’t presented Raoni with a safe passing opportunity. Petr has not been affected by Enrique’s momentary reduction in speed and he barrels through the right hander unimpaired. As the cars approach Windmill Bend, Enrique has recovered but Raoni has had to wait for the Lancia ahead to pick up speed. This means Raoni is slightly slower than he would normally be. Petr is closing fast (doing 95mph compared to Raoni who is travelling at 77mph) and he must take a tight line and go for the gap on the inside in order to avoid rear ending Raoni. Unfortunately, the gap narrows as they turn in and minor contact is made but it is enough to send Raoni into a spin. Thankfully Raoni was able to recover and continue in the race. Petr is barely affected by the contact and can continue without losing any time.
Raoni did nothing wrong. In fact, his patience and awareness during the rejoin was exemplary. He was very careful not to reverse into the oncoming traffic and only reversed enough to make sufficient space to manoeuvre the car so that it pointed in the right direction.
From the server replay it appears Petr decides to try the overtake on the inside but he quickly realises it isn’t on. He tries to back out but he is committed and cannot slow down enough to avoid hitting Raoni. Petr didn’t quite have 50% overlap at turn-in so the responsibility for the contact must lie with him. At this level clear passing opportunities are few and far between so it is not surprising that Petr was tempted. Given that this incident occurred on the first lap it attracts an extra 1 place penalty.
