Moderator's Report
Summary
Despite claiming pole in the Ferrari, Neil trailed Hristo into Crowthorne with Lorenzo, in another BRM, close behind in third. Neil spent a couple of frustrating laps trying to get past the BRM but the extra pace he had shown in practice wasn’t enough to present him with a clear passing opportunity. With the prospect of a long pit stop looming, Neil needed to push hard to get by quickly to stand any chance of a win. Unfortunately for Neil this resulted in him spinning off at Crowthorne on lap three and consequently loosing touch with the leaders.
Hristo drove on majestically to claim victory with Lorenzo settling for second place and a decent points tally. Brendan drove a fast consistent pace in his Cooper, it wasn’t enough to catch the BRMs but he did net a well-deserved third place.
Overall the driving standards in the race was very high with everybody cognizant of the prospect of realistic damage under PRO rules. Unfortunately warp is no respecter of PRO rules and it was a factor in several incidents. Drivers are reminded that they should drive with the possibility of warp in mind and try to minimize the risk of warp to themselves and other drivers. A description of warp and how to reduce the possibility of it occurring is on the rules pages (https://www.ukgpl.com/index.php/rules/warp).
Server replay time: 0h01m06s
Lap 1 Turn 1
After a slow start, Brendan overtakes Kruger on the inside at Crowthorne. He clips the kerb unsettling the car, nevertheless he keeps close to the inside. Ken is on the outside and has left a good cars width between himself and the kerb. As Brendan and Ken round Crowthorne, warp contact is made and Ken is sent spinning off the track.
Although this was an ambitious move by Brendan, he had the skill to pull it off and keep tight to the inside. The warp contact was probably exacerbated by the extra lateral movement cause by Brendan clipping the kerb. Ken knew he was vulnerable to warp and was careful to keep wide but unfortunately not wide enough in this case.
Warp related
Server replay time: 0h04m01s
Lap 3 Turn 1
Bully experiences some understeer which suddenly snaps back to oversteer. This throws him to the outside of the track just as Syd is trying an opportunistic pass. Contact is made.
Server replay time: 0h05m25s
Lap 4 Turn 1
Syd overtakes Steven on the inside, warp contact sends Steven off.
Warp related
Server replay time: 0h23m34s
Lap 17 Pit Lane
Steven pulls in for a pit stop and picks the first stall. Clive is following behind and is caught out by Steven’s penchant for the traditional stall for the world champion. Clive brakes hard but minor rear-end contact is made.
Nobody can be apportioned blame here. Clearly both drivers were at risk of damaging their cars, neither drove recklessly it was simply the consequence of a tight pit lane entry. Drivers are advised to be careful when making pit stops and in this case it would have been safer for Steven to have come to rest a little further down the pit lane but to try to devise a hard and fast rule here would be counter productive.
