Moderator's Report
This was the first race of our season 21 GT series and the standard of driving was generally quite high, and the rolling start went well
( well, almost well!! see below )
Moderator's comments.
1) Because we are using rolling starts in these races it is important to be sure exactly where you should be when the grid is formed. A quick check to be sure whose car you should be following on the warm up lap is easy, and will automatically solve any glitches with a staggered grid that is not quite perfect in future races.
2) The GT's present a real problem with their lack of decent mirrors and a couple of the incidents in this race were partially down to that fact. I would ask all drivers to bear this in mind in future races.
It was heartwarming to see that almost everyone who took a Shift-R also called at the pits.
What was not quite so warming, was that not all drivers took the 10 second stop stipulated in the rules!!
So, there are some time penalties to be added to a few drivers finishing places.
Hristo was stopped for only 1 second, so attracts a 9x3 = 27 second penalty .
Paul was forced to make a pitstop after his contact with Dave Randall on his last lap but in his eagerness to cross the line ahead of Nigel was stopped for only 8 secs, so attracts a 2x3 = 6second penalty.
Update...........stewards are investigating Tim Vos for completely missing a pitstop.................................. However as he quit, when he realised his ommission, and finished last, he only gets a warning that his future conduct will be scutinised. :o)
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As Paul has pointed out, Tim should technically not have been in front of him at that point as he had "jumped" a place in the rolling start. Not exactly an excuse to rear end someone, but I suppose he has a point?
In Tim's defence, I think there was a fault with the staggered grid positions , because there is no stagger between Paul and Tim's slots when they line up. They are side by side and Tim might just ( only just!!) be forgiven for simply following the car ( that he could see) in front. BUT!! it would also be reasonable for Tim to KNOW that he qualified behind Paul and be looking for the tail of his Porsche as he moved off the grid?
Vos loses pace at the crest on T1, is consequently slow down the hill and brakes quite early and conservatively for the esses complex. Paul is watching Vos's problems from behind and makes a clean run through T1 carrying more speed. Paul is closing quickly upon Tim at the bottom of the hill and Tim is quite justified in being in the middle of the road. I think Paul might have judged his closing speed and available tarmac a little better. There was a good possibility of making a clean pass down the inside given his greater speed and the better braking of the Porsche? Instead he caught the rear corner of Tim's Ford and spun both cars out.
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As a result of his contact with Tim Vos entering T2, Paul' Porsche is on the grass and plainly lacking any traction or meaningful directional control. He crosses the track at T2 and is now on the grassy infield trying to get back to the tarmac at T3 via the scenic route.
Whilst Paul and Tim are having their country dancing lessons, Al Baldwin cruises through in his Mirage passing the stricken Tim and avoiding the Porsche crossing the track at T2. However Paul has not given up his chance to cause more mayhem and flashes across the nose of Al's car at T3.
Al might have thought that he had succesfully avoided all of this carnage and lines up his exit from T3, probably quite happy to have picked up 2 places within 200 mtrs.
However, Paul somehow gets enough traction in his Porsche to perform a "U" turn on the outside edge of the track and turns back to produce the perfect road block directly in front of Al who is knocked into a spin.
In the recovering mayhem, Paul manages to perform a half donut in an attempt to get his car facing in the right direction, but only succeeds in hitting the innocent Mr Baldwin again!!??.
I think given his strenuous efforts to obtain this penalty, it would be unfair not to give Paul something!! The initial contact with Tim was a small lapse of judgement and mitigated by the fact that Tim should not really have been there.
However, the Blatant Bad Rejoin(s) inflicted upon Al is deserving of recognition.
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Hristo makes pit stop after Shift-R but fails to wait 10 seconds
The rules state that all stops after a Shift-R require a 10 second stop in the pit lane.
For each second that the pitstop is under 10 seconds the driver will be penalised x 3.
Only 1 second stationary = 9 seconds short. 9 x 3 = 27 second penalty.
Server replay time: 0h34m28s
The following incident was not reported but is worthy of mention I feel.
34:28 Hristo and Fulvio.
Fulvio is catching Nigel to lap him in his 2F and Hristo is close behind in his Mirage. On the exit of the sharp right after the bridge Fulvio has a slow exit because he is behind Nigel. On the run up to the final turn the extra grunt of Fulvio's 2F powers him past Nigel who has kept to the right hand side. Hristo has taken advantage of the slow exit and is carrying more speed. He also dives past Nigel on the first of gentle right hand curves and finds that Fulvio has run out to the left hand side of the track leaving the door wide open for the inside line on the second right flick. Fulvio is clearly unaware that Hristo is 75% alongside and moves across to his right.
Fulvio is spun out and blows his engine trying to recover forcing him to take Shift-R and a 10 second pitstop.
The poor rear vision in the GT's contributed to this incident. The last time Fulvio saw Hristo's Mirage in his mirror, it was 20+ metres behind him before Fulvio went past Nigel. He did not expect to make contact with a car when he moved to the right. In fact Fulvio might well have assumed that it was Nigel's car that he hit until he saw the replay.
I think this has to go down as a Racing Incident, but is a reminder to everyone that the rearward vision in these cars IS a problem and we need to exercise some caution on all sides
Server replay time: 0h51m26s
Dave Randall has caught Paul and is about to lap him at the end of the long straight.
Paul, quite correctly, keeps his car on the outside of the track and off of the racing line, allowing Dave the line through the apex of the corner. Dave takes the right hander and both cars keep carefully to their own side of the track on the short straight to the next left.
Unfortunately, it appears that the poor rearward visibilty in the GT's contributed greatly to this incident. Paul was able to see Dave's car pass him and he could see that Dave would be able to sweep across and take the "racing line" through the left hander. But Dave could not be sure exactly where Paul's Porsche was as it was invisble in his mirrors ( The 2D is particularly poor in this department) and as a result he chooses to play safe and run around the outside of the left turn. This would have worked fine, if he had not put a rear wheel on the grass!! the resultant spin takes him directly across the path of Paul who is following him through the corner and they collide.
Dave recovers the track but loses a place to Hristo, and Paul is forced to perform a Shift-R.
Paul might have afforded Dave a little more space, but to force lapped drivers to make sure they can be seen in the mirrors of the faster car is an impossible ask I think
From Paul's point of view he had allowed Dave the racing line and had done nothing wrong. From Dave's perspective, he has lost a place in trying to pass a backmarker and had tried to make the pass safely without risking any contact and has also done nothing wrong ( except to put a whell on the grass)
Very unfortunate for both drivers, but I think a Racing Incident.
Server replay time: 0h52m17s
Badblood performs a shift-R on the last lap and duly goes into the pits to take his 10 second stop. Unfortunately he is only staionary for 8 seconds.
2 x 3 =6 second penalty
