Moderator's Report
This was indeed a very tough race for everybody and especially tough for me to mod. Despite a very high number of incidents, most of which are aimed at improving drivers and pointing to mistakes and available alternatives, I thought everyone had done very well considering that its Monaco we're talking about. There were some penalties issued and if you feel I was wrong about them, feel free to appeal to the UKGPL Chief Moderator.
I would like to thank you all for your incident reports which were very valuable during the modding process. My commendations to Steve Bird who reported himself of using Shift R during practice; there will be no penalty for this occurrence but just to point out that Shift Rs are not allowed in practice unless specifically allowed by the moderator.
Onto the race now:
Bernie Darwin is the first driver to record a second win of the season and now closes in on the Crash and Burn trio in the standings. Bernie had dropped a couple of places early on but with some steady and consistent driving, fought his way back and claimed the most prestigious win of them all.
Phil Thornton looked all set for the honour after leapfrogging Ben Summers but a set of mistakes and technical problems with his wheel gave the lead to Bernie so Phil followed in a well deserved second position, giving Bernie plenty to think about in the final laps. This was demonstrated by race fastest lap of 1.28.951 on the very last lap, nearly four tenths faster than second fastest Bernie.
Final podium position was provisionally taken by Paul Bird on his return however the position is now inherited by Art Le Marquand who, had an eventful race and finished fourth.
The battle for championship is tightening up. It’s Zandvoort up next and although a more traditional circuit, it’s known to throw in a couple of surprises... or drivers off the track, onto the sand dunes in this case.
Server replay time: 0h00m46s
Start - Paul Bird is slow off the line and Chris Bull is trying to go around him. Paul then throttles it too much and his Honda wiggled onto the line Chris has taken and gets rear ended, flipping him upside down.
Chris has done nothing wrong here and Paul fell victim to his own mistake but that mistake wasn`t likely to require a Shift R so Paul is entitled to a No fault Shift R.
Server replay time: 0h01m33s
Lap 1 - Virage de Gare
Bernie Darwin goes very wide at the hairpin, leaving plenty room on the inside which Phil Thornton sensibly takes. Phil goes around the hairpin at full lock and drives at a steady speed of 31 km/h when Bernie recovering from his wide line pulls back towards the racing line and Bernie`s rear left touches with Phil`s front right. As a result, Bernie spun and had to give away a couple of positions. Moreover, client replay shows a slight warp contact which is also confirmed on the server replay.
Although this was an avoidable accident, I cannot say that either driver is at fault: Phil could have slowed slightly and Bernie should have kept the outside line and take it onto the next corner where he would still be in advantage. This off course, if either driver had a luxury of better side view in GPL.
Server replay time: 0h03m08s
Lap 2 - Ian Docherty follows Michael Turner into Mirabeau. Both drivers brake at their usual points but Ian`s braking is much later there and he rear-ends Michael sending him into spin.
It is the responsibility of the following driver to adjust the speed but it appears that Michael braked much later than Ian expected so I'm opting for a minimum penalty.
Server replay time: 0h03m09s
Lap 2 - Chris is behind Paul McCluskey and Ian Stanley and leaves his braking too late at La Gare, rear ending Paul`s Lotus sending him into a spin. Paul was as late as possible on brakes and in control.
Server replay time: 0h03m12s
Lap 2 - As Paul McCluskey is left stranded at La Gare, facing apex, he tried to rejoin too quickly getting in the way of Art`s Cooper which ultimatelly forces Bernie to come to a complete halt.
This contact bounces Paul further back and both, Art and Bernie are through, Paul properly giving room to Bernie.
In this situation, Paul should have reversed from the racing line and attempted to rejoin when the gap appeared, which was to be after Bernie had gone through.
Server replay time: 0h04m28s
Lap 3 - Art drifts wide whilst trying to avoid rear ending Ian Stanley who is somewhat slower into Massenet, and leaves a gap on the inside which Bernie attempts to exploit and gets alongside Art, who in trying to regain the racing line touches Bernie's rear wheel sending him into the armco.
Bernie was fully entitled to go for this massive gap and Art should have been aware of this as it was obvious in his mirrors and tried to shut the doors when Bernie has reached a substantial overlap.
In cases when there is a loss of speed, I would advise not attmpting to get back onto racing line until speed is recovered.
Server replay time: 0h05m19s
Lap 3 - Dennis follows Michael Turner through the chicane towards Tabac. They encounter Chris Bull who had just pinballed towards Tabac and ended to the right, de-wheeled and helpless. There is a yellow flag and the leaders take caution avoiding the accident and so does Michael Turner but Michael is too slow after the accident and was moving in the middle of the track which caught Dennis slightly and there was a contact, sending Michael into the spin.
Both drivers made a mistake but caution for Dennis as he is a following car.
Server replay time: 0h05m40s
Lap 3 - Bernie follows Ian Stanley closely through the Gazometres, with Paul McCluskey close behind. Ian clips the apex barrier on the exit, which throws him off slightly off the line, causing Bernie and Paul to slow down.
Paul pips Bernie and Art pips Paul and they all end up locked up there until Bernie finds the way to turn his car in good direction and they all drive off except Paul who retires at the spot.
Server replay time: 0h06m18s
Lap 4 - Casino
Art runs wide and clips armco causing him to lose control and spin towards the Mirabeau. Art sits on the left, his fronts on the sidewalk and tried to reverse just before Michael, Jack and Paul are passing by.
In these situations, it is obviously best not to make any attempts in rejoining until the approaching cars have passed.
Server replay time: 0h07m34s
Lap 4 - Michael Turner goes a bit wide in Tabac and Jack is now aiming for his inside before they reach Gazometres. Michael closes the inside and Jack patiently waits for next opportunity.
Paul Bird uses this battle to go in faster and passes both of them but goes too wide and hits the haybales. In the meantime, Michael is taking the turn properly and is set to pass Paul but Paul is too quick to come back to the racing line as he is already being passed by Michael. The contact appears insignificant but it was sufficient to break the wheel off Michael`s Ferrari.
Michael Turner requires a Shift R and is entitled to a no fault Shift R.
Server replay time: 0h07m53s
Lap 5 - After the incident with Paul, Michael loses a front left tyre but continues to accelerate all the way accross the S/F line until Sainte Devote.
In cases where the car is damaged to the point of being undriveable, the best thing is to move off the racing line and perform a Shift R as soon as possible. Staying on the racing line with compromised speed slows the other drivers and may lead to major accidents.
Server replay time: 0h11m31s
Lap 7 - Paul Bird just caught up with Jack O`Ferrall and as they close on La Gare, Jack goes slightly wide opening the gap to Paul behind. Paul is naturally tempted to go for it but misjudges the angle to go around the hairpin which results with a front to side contact, sending Jack into a spin.
This classifies as a simple rear end shunt as victim`s line was unusual.
Server replay time: 0h11m33s
Lap 7 - Art is coming up to the accident between Paul and Jack. Art chooses a very smart approach and takes a late apex, climbs onto the kerb and is nearly through with virtualy no time lost.
However Paul Bird, stationary in the middle of the road, is eager to recover and pulls to the left clipping Art`s rear right with his front left. This sends Art into a half spin but Art recovers and manages to continue, unwillingly conceding a place to Paul.
If Art had stuck to the inside after going around the hairpin, there would be no contact. Same way, if Paul had released his wheel from full lock and then accelerated, there would be no contact as well. No particular driver is to be solely blamed so I`m calling this a racing incident.
Server replay time: 0h12m04s
Lap 7 - Chris Bull is taking the chicane whilst Dennis gets it wrong ahead of him. Unfortunatelly, Dennis comes to a halt at the middle of a racing line and can`t do anything about it and is then hit by Chris from behind.
There was no time for a yellow flag to be shown and it is quite difficult to see what is happening after the chicane so there was little either driver could have done to prevent this from happening.
Both drivers ended upside down and required a Shift R - both are entitled a no fault Shift R.
Server replay time: 0h16m03s
Lap 11 - Gazometres
Phil Thornton (having taken too deep a breath in the vicinity of the gasometres) loses a directional stability under braking and Ben Summers leaves his braking a bit too late and in it looks as though he would not have been able to go around the corner disregardless of Phil. However, its possible to manage the brakes better when you don't have to avoid any cars under braking.
Unfortunately Ben falls victim to the large concrete barrier which promptly removes both his right hand wheels and leaves him impaled against the straw bales. Phil regains control and continues but Ben although entitled to a "no-fault shift R" chooses to quit.
The contributing factors to this accident are Phil`s out of shape braking as well as Ben`s very late braking and the fact that he couldn't brake the way he wanted to as he had to take avoiding action. Each driver on his own would have gotten away from this situation so I would grant a no-fault Shift R to Ben who unfortunatelly retired from a strong second position.
Server replay time: 0h30m29s
Lap 19 - Dennis hits the haybales at Gazometres. Ian Stanley is taking the inside going around the stationary car. Dennis then accelerates and interferes with Ian even though there was plenty of room to the left where Dennis logicaly should have been going and side by side contact is made. Worse, it was an uncontested pass as Dennis was being lapped.
Ian`s right front then detaches from the car. Ian was entitled to a no fault Shift R but he chose to retire which is a pity as he was running a strong race in third.
Dennis had to have either yielded a track position to Ian as he was being lapped or point his car to the most outside line which is less likely to be interfered with passing cars.
Server replay time: 0h36m18s
Lap 21 - Graham follows Dennis into Mirabeau and goes in too hot rear ending Dennis who was in control at the time.
Dennis was in control and braked at his usual point and Graham did not follow Dennis for long (from St. Devote of that lap) so he couldn`t have known that. Also, Graham was quicker there than usual and all such attempts on other laps had him go very wide.
Dennis is entitled to a no fault Shift R.
Server replay time: 0h39m00s
Lap 24 - Jack is leaving the tunnel at race speed and runs into Chris who lost control at the very exit of the tunnel, sent rearward towards the armco on the left wall, bounced and was stationary outside the racing line. Jack aims his car towards the gap which is then closed by Chris in what looks like an attempt to clear out of the way.
Once the approaching car sees a stationary car, the spontaneus reaction is to go the other way so Chris did the worst possible thing by changing the position. Best thing is staying put until track is clear.
Jack was entitled a no fault Shift R but Jack chooses to retire a the chicane which is a pity because he was having a complimentary race up to that point.
Server replay time: 0h46m57s
Lap 27 - Graham gets the chicane wrong and is thrown at the armco to the left, knocking his wheels off. Makes a Shift R but fails to perform a Stop and Go.
Although this was Graham`s last lap, it does not mean that all Shift Rs on the last lap are granted as a no fault one.
Graham should have carried out his Stop and Go on the pits side, anywhere before the S/F line.