So after another race weekend with mixed results we are now heading into the last round with Oscar being the Drivers Championship underdog. The chance might be slim but we will never stop fighing for it! To say a 3rd and 2nd place at a race weekend, does mean that your team is succeeding in it's expectations but sadly it also means we had a bit of a rough weekend. A lot of work by all of us and we looked in good shape but luck sometimes has this other idea...no matter how well you drive and who you are. Vermin Racing extends it's congratulations to Inforward Racing for winning the team championship. We are still in a fight with Toto Rosso for 2nd in the championship. To find out how the races unfolded have a good read of the reports below. Donington Park Qualifying One of the most prestigious circuits in the UK became the latest stop on the F3 calendar for the pen-ultimate round of the championship. It would be one of those weekends many drivers would not forget and some driers that would like to forget. Going into Qualifying it was clear it was going to be a close battle between 4 drivers. Arttu Nieminen was looking the favourite for the pole if his perfect practice lap was anything to go by, but with the grip levels being lower than expected, it was going to be about who could master the slippery conditions best. Jack smith's smooth style gets him the initial pole position, followed by Oscar Williams by just 0.095 behind his team mate, and the ever consistent Martijn Van T Land in third. Clearly as the cars were fuelled up to go the full 7 minutes without stopping and with the track rubbering in, the times would topple. Williams' next lap put him ahead of his team mate by over half a second. The one lap wizard that is Nieminen would just nip in front of Williams' time by 0.070's, but with Williams on another fast lap would only take another lap for him to regain the top spot. An Excellent lap from Jaap Wagenvoort catapulted him to the top of the time sheet as the time ran out in qualifying. It was now down to anyone who had started their hot lap before the chequered flag had fallen to improve their times. The last person across the line just before the timer ran out was Williams. Who put in a brave lap improving on Wagenvoort's time sector bu sector. Williams crossed the line and snapping at pole but would miss out by just 0.0071. Wagenvoort took his first pole position of the season with a 1:18.413. Williams second with Van T Land putting his car on third 0.174 behind. Just 0.750 would split the top 5. Top 3: Wagenvoort Williams Van T Land Race 1 With the British weather holding up, track up to temperature and a lot of pressure on the championship contenders as the race growls into action. Sammy Salem's car was taken out of the race due to a technical issue so sadly Salem missed the start. Wagenvoort has a good start as does Nieminen, with Williams slightly bogging down off the grid, he would have to defend into the first corner. With everyone cleanly away, the top 4 come running down the hill all nose to tail looking for any sniff of a gap. As they approach the end of lap 1 the top 4 cars go into the hairpin as a quartet. Smith misses his breaking point and collides with Oscar. The contact between the team mates resulted in both drivers losing a place, Williams dropped to 3rd and Smith to 5th. Luckily the two cars were not damaged too much, and Smith was soon back past Van T Land. Van T Land stuck in close behind Smith and had a few looks into getting back past, but Smith started to pull a gap. The top 3 were close, moving and looking for any way to overtake each other, Jaap keeping his cool managed to stay focused and ahead under the pressure of Nieminen and Williams. Williams made a move on Nieminen down into the tight hairpin, the pair collide heavy but are able to continue on, battling into the final corner again making more contact. With Nieminen staying ahead. With all the action at the front, there were some close battles going on in mid field, Colonel Blimp had managed to make a move for 8th position on Vyacheslav Potapenko, who had a throttle issue throughout the race and qualifying, taking advantage of of Blimps move, Tippet followed him through and also past his team mate for 9th place. Salem was now back in the race 2 laps down but reporting no further issues and driving well to un-lap himself from several of the slower cars towards the rear end of the field. The ever unlucky Melbourne retired his car from the race and would now watch the rest of race 1 from the garage. Back at the front, the continuing battle of Nieminen and Williams, as Williams managed to stay glued to the back of the Toto Rosso. Trying another move at the hairpin, the pair would go in side by side and Williams but Nieminen would not give up into the final corner and would remain in front. All the time Smith catching the pair but an error would put him off the track and allow Van T Land into 4th just ahead of Smith. Under pressure Nieminen makes a small mistake clipping the curb which allows Williams to squeeze past and into 2nd again, Nieminen fighting hard all the way down the back straight and into the hairpin, where he almost retook the position from Williams, again they go into the final turn almost side by side. With Van T Land getting a huge amount of wheel spin off the hairpin, Smith regained his 4th place back. Again the battle for 2nd place is so close, it almost looks as if Nieminen has superglue his car to back of Williams, coming down the hill, it's now Williams who makes a mistake and Nieminen slips past back into 2nd. Alex Cochrane and Niko Anders find themselves on their own in 6th and 7th, a long way behind Van T Land, but Anders soon makes a pass on Cochrane for 6th down at the hairpin. DJB who had already had a moment trying to pass Blimp and Tippet was not pulling a gap over Potapenko who was still struggling due to his throttle issue down in 11th. Williams now back on the rear end of Nieminen with less than 8 minutes, tries a move but Nieminen blocks his attempt and the pair continue to run nose to tail. Williams' tyres start to slide and allows a bit of breathing room for Nieminen who sets a fastest lap of the race. The gap starts to widen as the fuel levels come down with now 3 seconds covering the top 3 and less than 3 minutes left to run. Cochrane had been chased down by Blimp, the two running closely for laps. Blimp finally was able to make his move around the outside of the Hairpin. With Tippet chasing DJB for 0th, slip streaming all the way down the hill, he would have to back off the throttle slightly but then forced DJB into a slight mistake and would take 9th. As the flag signalled the end to a very intense and exciting race. Wagenvoort's calm and smooth driving was key to his victory. The collisions between Nieminen and Williams somewhat compromised their chances of the win, but still scoring solid points with 2nd and 3rd Respectively. Some impressive displays from Blimp and Anders in their debut races could be something for them to build upon in the future. Top 3: Wagenvoort Nieminen Williams Race 2 The Octan team found themselves on pole for race 2, with DJB looking to maximise any points for the struggling but popular outfit. Tippet was in second after a bit of a no man's race in race 1 and not the return to racing he wanted, and Alex Cochrane starting in 3rd. It was Tippet who got a lightning start and was entering Turn 1 side by side with DJB, who had the inside line so remained in the lead on the exit of turn 1. At the back a misjudged braking point by Potapenko, sends Wagenvoort, Neiminen and Sammy Salem into each other, the accident not causing too big an issue for Wagenvoort and Neiminen, but it's Salem who ends up losing the most time, taking a long trip through the gravel and rejoining in last place. A brilliant start from Williams would already see him in 5th by the end of lap 1, followed close by Van T land and Smith. The recovering pair of Wagenvoort and Nieminen saw them battling down towards the fast chicane 4 cars wide, with Melbourne defending the lead of this small group, Nieminen who had opted to take the outside line into the chicane under braking has to back out after some paint exchange with Melbourne, which sadly would put another premature end to Melbourne's race. The contact released Nieminen and Wagenvoort, the latter of the two making a great move into the Hairpin and getting past Nieminen and setting off after Smith. Up in the lead with DJB still leading and managing to maintain a gap to Tippet as they roar into lap 2. Cochrane with a good amount of slipstream down the hill decides to take a very over optimistic overtake on Tippet into the fastest right hand corner on the track. As the pair bump, Cochrane now jumps into 2nd. Tippet struggling not to lose control backs off but maintains his line as to avoid the stream of cars behind taking avoiding action. Unfortunately it would be Williams who would be driven off the track by the avoiding action of Blimp. Which would cause Williams to bounce across the grass and drop down just in front of Wagenvoort, who made a quick pass. Nieminen trying to get past Williams, tags the rear tyre of the Vermin car, sending Williams back into the gravel trap and beaching his car and becoming an innocent victim of the race as he had no other option but to retire from the race. Tippet had now dropped down to 6th after the contact with Cochrane, behind Wagenvoort. Van T Land holding up his team mate, Wagenvoort briefly as he looks to make a move on Smith for 4th. As they reach the fast chicane it's a quartet of cars jostling for 2nd place. Cochrane finding himself swamped on the exit of the chicane, with Smith having a good look down the inside of the now in 2nd place, Wagenvoort at the hairpin, Wagenvoort maybe defending a little too hard as he just closes the gap but connects rubber to rubber, scraping Smith's front left tyre with his rear. Now 6 cars have a good look into the final turn, Wagenvoort makes another error and spins his rear tyres allowing Smith to sail through into 2nd place and catch DJB. Van T Land now defending off Cochrane, Blimp and Tippet, took the inside line into the fast chicane as Cochrane just caught his wheel on the Inforwards car, once again sending him off through the stones and rattling over the bumps, with Tippet and Blimp also coming through. Smith hammering after DJB had now caught the leader up, and a daring and brilliant move down the inside of the fast chicane allows Smith to take the lead, Wagenvoort, who had also caught DJB and Smith, waited patiently as Smith ran a touch deep through the corner, setting up a 3 way battle side by side into the hairpin.Wagenvoort takes a nice tight line and would overtake both the cars in front, promoting himself from 3rd to 1st with one move. DJB who had been doing a brilliant job for Octan gets a touch of over steer out of the hairpin and slides off the track and down to 9th. Anders who is now an impressive 3rd place, is being hunted down by Nieminen. Both trading places throughout the next lap, when Anders refuses to let Nieminen stay ahead and re pass down at the bottom of the hill, Nieminen who is looking for any kind of way through, tries to get a tow up the hill but with a hill, Nieminen has to back off the throttle, which sends him into the clutches of Van T Land. Van T Land goes for a move down the inside of the 2nd fast right hander but there is huge contact, with both cars careening through the sand and grit. Both get back on track slowly, but bizarrely Nieminen's car spins off again under acceleration and he decides to call it a day and retires from the race. Through the havoc, Tippet has managed to keep his nose clean and head down and is briefly rewarded with 4th place. Blimp and Melbourne are able to overtake him in the next sequence of corners ,dropping Tippet back down to 6th. With around 7 minutes left in the race, Smith is remaining in contention for the lead by around 0.600's and not letting Wagenvoort break away. Van T land looking determined had now caught and latched on to the rear wing of Tippet, unable to pass down the hill, patiently waiting until he picks up the slipstream from Tippets car down towards fast hairpin, making his move down the inside. Tippet makes a small error off the hairpin and Salem follows and takes 7th place. Salem and Melbourne have a huge coming together, which allows Tippet back into 6th with under a minute to go, Van T Land and Anders make more contact proving a very challenging race for Van T Land, behind Tippet closes up the gap to less than a second to Van T Land, but unfortunately only able to secure 6th on his return to racing. Wagenvoort's domination of the weekend concludes with another good win. Smith coming second is a bit of a morale booster for the Vermin team as a whole but no consolation for Williams bad luck. This result means that the title still goes down to the wire but with a much larger gap in points to Wagenvoort and sees Williams now entering the finale as the underdog. A superb drive from Blimp to bring his car home in 3rd, after this promising weekend he will be a driver to watch. Top 3: 1. Wagenvoort 2. Smith 3. Blimp |
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AuthorR.T. Driver for Vermin Racing Archives
January 2019
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