Moderator's Report
A return to Monza for the Novices where the Tifosi were hoping for a fine display from the Prancing Horses.
HappyAl set the crowd alight with his fantastic front row on the grid.
They erupted when led the way into Curva Grande for the first time, so imagine the euphoria and delerium that would follow when he brought it home for a ..... oh.
The mods are also taking the opportunity to remind all drivers about the rules regarding Stop n Go after a Shift/R reset. Every SHIFT-R must be followed by a Stop n Go, regardless of blame.
Well, onto the mod then.
Server replay time: 0h01m00s
There are two early incidents in the race, one of them before we even reach the first corner.
Billy is catching RogUK who in turn is catching Norm whos is in turn catching DuFossa.
Du Fossa is forced to slow as Norbert quickly moves across the front of him, almost hitting him.
Norbert has seen Blito come from his left hand side so does not expect DuFossa to be there when he moves over.
All the line of cars behind Du Fossa also slow and Billy does too but loses control under braking and slides across the path of Fran who cannot avoid him.
Billy and Fran decide they will take out a Honda and after just missing Paul's they opt for Bookie's instead.
Billy then decides to take the shortest route back to the pits but his engineer radios him and calls him a %$@#ing *%^$ and he decides to take the more traditional route and turns round before continuing on his lap.
We do not generally punish incidents caused by a loss of control so it would seem unfair to punish Billy as the chain of events was actually caused by Norbert wiping the nose of Du Fossa, though even he had only moved over after seeing Blito emerge from his left.
However, all drivers are advised that they may need to stick to their own side of the grid from the start until after T1 if necessary as they cannot always be sure of what is around them.
Server replay time: 0h01m10s
Jonny spins of his own accord.
Norbert tries to avoid him but is clipped and spins which causes a warp contact with Fabio.
Du Fossa approaches the incident and slows but has nowhere to go to avoid a collision.
Nhance slows and takes to the grass but still gets hit by BadBlood.
RogUK also slows as he sees tyre smoke and skidmarks but loses control and taps NHance before spinning himself.
BadBlood also sees the incident developing and slows but could have slowed a little more in hindsight.
Aulden is another who slows but could have slowed more.
Interestingly though, all of the drivers approaching the incident were being shown a green flag that was caused by Billy's little fracas and they reacted purely to what was happening in front of them at 150mph.
Server replay time: 0h10m05s
Al Baldwin takes on the Hedge at Lesmo2 in a brave attempt at avoiding a spinning Pete Maestro. However flooring the throttle seemed to be the only way to convince the Hedge to release it's grip. The trick here is being ready to wrestle your car back under control once set free, if at all.
Meanwhile, Pete had completed the dance portion of his lap with a near-perfect 180deg pirouette, and was getting up to speed again - just as the Hedge decided it was fed up wearing red and spat Al out - straight into Pete's path where a major contact occurred, requiring Pete Maestro to reset. Unfortunately Pete forgets to make his stop.
Drivers are reminded that when they take a Shift-R they MUST now take a stop and go regardless of fault.
Server replay time: 0h10m58s
Du Fossa loses control at Parabolica and an eager Badblood goes a bit deep into the corner in an effort to pass. They touch and BB ends up facing the wrong way. In his eagerness to get going BB drives into Du Fossa and his car literally explodes. Du Fossa forgets that he can reset and BB drives off with a red face.
The initial collision on the track is avoidable but BB had tried to take a tighter line but failed and DuFossa was out of control as his car turned towards BB.
The collision on the grass cannot escape punishment though as BB should have waited for DuFossa to move away which would have given himself a clear path to rejoin.
Blatant Bad Rejoin : Penalty 2 places (see below)
I am then going to individually mitigate for each of these factors;
Reduce to 1 place as the other driver could not be considered to be in full control either
Reduce to Warning as it cannot be said you were attempting to get straight onto the racing line
Reduce to Caution as the other driver also attempted to drive straight back on to the track (albeit fractionally sooner)
Server replay time: 0h11m05s
Blito follows Economia towards Curva Grande and appears to rear end him.
The server shows no actual contact and Blito had not been right behind Economia for a long time, he had looked to overtake and then fell in behind him on the approach, thus not inviting a warp contact.
Warp Incident
Server replay time: 0h16m50s
Axel, Blito and Karliss head away from Lesmo 2 almost three abreast and Axel suffers a warp contact from Blito.
Blito is close to the centre line but doesn't cross it, however he may not be aware that karliss is now on Axels' right.
Warp Incident
Server replay time: 0h17m56s
Karliss railrides through Curva Grande
Server replay time: 0h19m29s
Axel and fran approach Parabolica together, and having approached several corners together already this season they will know what the other one will do and will surely avoid any ..... oh.
This is a genuine hard fought contested overtake between cars of differing performance and Axel picks the inside line early leaving Fran to go around the outside with the extra horsepower. Fran closes quickly and looks to have the job done but Axel is not giving it up easily and the two fight to get back on the power before the other.
Both drivers try to stick to their lines through Parabolica but both run wide while still under control. Axel is close to the centre line if not straddling it and Fran points his car back towards it, but it is Axel who wins the battle of the throttles and he pulls clear of Fran.
Just as he does so, Fran suffers a violent reaction to a contact not shown on the server replay that is clearly warp related, which is a great shame as this was a great battle that didn't deserve to end like that.
Both drivers contribute to the warp as Axel moves out towards the centre line and Fran steers back towards it.
As the driver on the outside in instances like this it is advisable to leave plenty room or the potential is always there for a warp incident to occur and it will almost always affect the outer car. That said, it would be unfair to punish either driver as both did try to race cleanly.
Warp Incident
Server replay time: 0h19m57s
Blito is leaving the pits. Badblood decides to pass on the left, no the right, no the left... arrrggghhhh. Blito has moved to the left side of the track and BB has hit him although the server shows no actual contact.
In hindsight, BB should have stayed well left (or used his brakes/noodle) and Blito should have stayed right until he was up to racing speed. he also continued to move right after hearing and seeing other cars approaching.
This is a warp incident which do not always get punished, but Blito should take far more car when leaving the pits and drivers should always give way to those at racing speed.
Server replay time: 0h20m25s
Al Baldwin and Aulden cotest Lesmo 1 where Audlen suffers a contact or warp and is pushed to the wall before continuing apparently unaffected.
Both drivers make great efforts to keep to their own side of the track but Al touches the inside kerb which doesn't help him.
The contact(if there is any) occurs near the centre line.
Server replay time: 0h21m35s
Karliss railrides through Lesmo 1
Server replay time: 0h22m50s
At the exit of Ascari, Al seems fixated on the gearbox of Axel's Cooper and misses his opportunity for a successful pass as he is too busy admiring cogs. He brakes way too late and although desperately taking evasive action he is too late.
Server replay time: 0h22m58s
Al is having a 'mare. After mashing Cookie's axle and playing in the sand at Parabolica he carefully times his rejoin to take Pete out in the middle of the racetrack! Pete resets and a lap later spins and gives up in disgust. Pete once again fails to take a stop.
It is worth noting that if Pete had remembered to take his stop Al couldn't have hit him!
We draw a veil over Al trying to hit Billy...
Server replay time: 0h30m18s
Axel passes Aulden on the inside at Curva Grande.
Aulden is keeping too tight a line with Axel on his inside and should give him more room.
Axel moves out towards the centre line and Aulden suffers a small warp contact which knocks him towards the outside wall.
Server replay time: 0h33m55s
Fabio spins entering Parabolica and sits across the track where he is hit by a slowing Jonny who was following him.
