Welcome to Part 3 of our race reports from Motegi, with the final 2 reports from Division 5 and 6. We will start with Division 5, coming to you from T_Vue: This round of the championship is held at Japan’s Twin Ring Motegi Road Course—a start-stop circuit with perhaps one too many straights and tight corners, requiring patience and precise throttle control. TOVEY_4SAKEN comes into this round as favourite, looking to cement his first championship win. But can he make it four in a row? Or will somebody step up and put a halt to his dominance? Qualifying Qualifying was fairly uneventful, with everyone evenly spread out—only TOVEY_4SAKEN and T_Vue made it below 1.58. Starting grid: TOVEY_4SAKEN (1.57.312), T_Vue (1.57.495), ranok3n (158.058), xxDARKOxx (1.58.563), alzoroz (1.59.647), JAKO155 (1.59.682), CWhelan85 (2.00.630), patg65 (2.05.863). Only eight drivers started as Webnomad disconnects before qualifying...two DCs in a row now. Lap 1 It’s a clean getaway by the front three. xxDARKOxx’s reaction is sluggish; when he finally steps on it, it’s too late and he goes backwards to 7th before T1. Alzoroz shoots into 4th from 5th by the first corner and challenges ranok3n for 3rd heading into T2. ranok3n defends P3 from alzoroz. Laps 2–3 JAKO155 goes off track at T4; as he re-enters, alzoroz has nowhere to go but into back of JAKO155, skidding off into the barriers and turning into a ghost, slipping to last. At the front, T_Vue is battling championship leader TOVEY_4SAKEN; on a couple of straights, T_Vue slipstreams enough to peek inside but decides to play the patience game and hopes to pressure TOVEY_4SAKEN into making a mistake. At the tailend, Patg65 spins at the S Curve, allowing alzoroz to sweep up 7th. T_Vue trying to reign in TOVEY_4SAKEN during the early laps. Lap 4 At start of lap 4, TOVEY_4SAKEN is only four tenths ahead of T_Vue while ranok3n is 4.2 seconds adrift in 3rd. TOVEY_4SAKEN goes wide at T4 and T_Vue pounces on the opportunity and tries sneaking past on the inside, but TOVEY_4SAKEN closes the door as they run towards T5. Exiting T10, T_Vue decides to attack, gassing it too early and goes sideways, managing to correct it just before turning around or going head first into the right-hand concrete wall. A mistake that allows ranok3n and xxDARKOxx to close up and TOVEY_4SAKEN to sprint away, as he did in round 4. Eighth place patg65 spins out just before T9. Laps 5–7 xxDARKOxx is all over ranok3n’s rear, slipstreaming past just in time for T11—the fight isn’t over yet as ranok3n is glued behind, hinting he’s not that easy to be shrugged off. CWhelan85, in 6th, goes too deep into T14 and ends up in the sandpit. Lap 8 ranok3n overtakes xxDARKOxx along downhill straight and steals 3rd going into T11; however, it was short lived as xxDARKOxx passes inside at T3, ensuring that this see-saw battle goes on. Meanwhile, CWhelan85 and patg65 are battling for 7th, with both matching each other’s pace. Laps 9–11 Feeling the pressure of xxDARKOxx and ranok3n catching up, T_Vue almost spins again exiting T10. As the field spreads, 2nd is becoming a heated battle among T_Vue, ranok3n, and xxDARKOxx, where they are nose to tail. Along downhill straight, T_Vue goes defensive and sticks it inside, forcing xxDARKOxx to go around; T_Vue holds 2nd. patg65 and CWhelan85 still at each other’s throats to avoid last spot. Lap 12 Entering T2, xxDARKOxx manages to stick himself far enough on the inside; despite the generous space given by T_Vue (conceding 2nd), xxDARKOxx manages to tap T_Vue’s right rear side, forcing him to skid across to the left. xxDARKOxx moves into 2nd and ranok3n snatches 3rd from the slow-moving T_Vue. T_Vue skids wide from a right-rear tap by xxDARKOxx, losing two spots in the process. One second separates 2nd–4th. CWhelan85 and patg65 finally end their battle when the patg65 goes too deep into T14 and ends up on the grass. At the halfway mark, TOVEY_4SAKEN is gleefully sprinting away—it's groundhog day for everyone. TOVEY_4SAKEN xxDARKOxx: +10.718 ranok3n: +11.160 T_Vue: +12.085 JAKO155: +43.784 alzoroz: +51.805 CWhelan85: +1:30.370 patg65: +1:32.328 Lap 13 Under pressure from T_Vue, ranok3n goes wide at T4 and T_Vue takes the inside and regains 3rd; he takes charge to fight xxDARKOxx for 2nd. Exiting T9, T_Vue gives xxDARKOxx a little return tap from behind, a little ‘hurry-up’. Lap 14 Rare mistake by TOVEY_4SAKEN: all alone at the front, he shoots off past T3’s exit and has to dig himself out the sand trap; he rejoins, still in first but loses four seconds. TOVEY_4SAKEN takes a rare off-road detour. Lap 15 ranok3n overshoots his braking mark at T5 and spears in the rear of T_Vue; luckily, ranok3n ghosted. Drag racing along downhill straight again, T_Vue can’t pass darko around the outside; exiting T11, however, TV steps on the gas too early and rotates too much, going sideways and hitting the left-hand concrete wall under the tunnel. The battle for 2nd is now very much a two-way fight between darko and ranok3n. In the battle for 5th, alzoroz catches up with JAKO155 and hunts him down to T11. Lap 16 After sector 2, alzoroz and JAKO155 are now only 0.099 seconds apart. Approaching T9, they go side by side with alzoroz eventually getting onto the dirty side, leaving the track, seemingly squeezed by JAKO155. alzoroz and JAKO155 providing mid-pack entertainment. Lap 17 ranok3 makes move on inside of xxDARKOxx at T5 and makes it stick! Leading man TOVEY_4SAKEN laps patg65. Lap 18 xxDARKOxx hits back at ranok3n at T1, regaining 2nd position using textbook drafting and outbraking. The see-saw battle between xxDARKOxx and ranok3n. Lap 19 After see-sawing with xxDARKOxx, ranok3n again takes the inside and takes 2nd spot at T2; again, however, it’s short-lived as pressure causes him to miss his braking point at T3—he goes off, blowing up dust and dirt. This essentially gives enough breathing space for xxDARKOxx to consolidate 2nd spot and it allows T_Vue another sniff at 3rd after falling off. L20 After a 5-6 lap battle between alzoroz and JAKO155, it finally ended when JAKO155 dive bombed on the inside of alzoroz at T3; he was cool and calm enough to brake early and watch JAKO155’s pink flying missile beaching itself. L21 T_Vue closes right up ranok3n’s rear who turns in too much at T5, oversteers, and has to correct, allowing TV to fly by and take 3rd. L22 With all other battles settled, ranok3n and T_Vue are still arguing for the final podium step. At T3, ranok3n goes deep on the inside and rams T_Vue’s left hand side; ranok3n redresses, allowing TV to stay in P3. L23 It’s a dramatic conclusion for 3rd: approaching T11, T_Vue defends on the inside.They go two wide through the final three turns: ranok3n taps the left rear of T_Vue, causing him to go sideways into T14; both drivers slow down, unsure who should redress—in the end, ranok3n allowed T_Vue to take 3rd, a generous gesture. The replay shows T_Vue turning in—while still giving ranok3n enough space—and just clipping the front of ranok3n. T_Vue takes 3rd away from ranok3n in the final few corners. TOVEY_4SAKEN wins four in a row! It is another dominant win for TOVEY_4SAKEN (by about 16 seconds again). The challenge by T_Vue in the initial stages had the crowd hoping for a first position to go down to the wire. It’s also another drive of the day for xxDARKOxx, who slipped to 2nd last spot and then charging his way through to finish 2nd. Post-race comments: Tovey_4saken: Great racing once again, guys. It was a tough track, easy to lose time. To some of the guys thinking they’re not very good, have faith. You guys are doing a great job. Div 5 does have some fast guys who definitely will be moved up and don't forget these are provisionally divisions. We haven't improved drastically since round one. Just keep at it guys and the seconds will shed, I guarantee. And jako mate, don't be too hard on yourself; you are doing great for a guy on a controller against wheels. I remember controller being no easy feat to be fast. xxDARKOxx: Jako was all over the place, makes it very hard to overtake, don't know if a higher room quality will help or not but couldn't hurt. T_Vue: Great racing, fellas. Intense battle with Darko and ranok3n during middle stages for second and third. I kept up with TOVEY for the first few laps but made some errors and slipped back. Had fantastic battle with ranok3n during final 2-3 laps for third, rubbing panels in the final few corners. Looking forward to Silverstone, another similar track to Motegi. ranok3n: First off, bad luck to Webnomad for turning up, and then getting disconnected just as Qualifiers was starting! Well done to everyone that shows up week after week! Don't be disheartened if you feel you are too slow in this division! Just look at Tovey! He is making all of us look slow! Webnomad: Sounds like I missed on a good race ... and yes ...was not happy with the DC in middle of qualifying... silverstone looks super fast. Nice work T_Vue. Congratulations to Tovey_4saken on pole, fastest lap and victory, and also to xxDARKOxx and T_Vue for the final podium places. Now we will move on to a brief wrap up of Division 6: RACE QUOTES: Rumbleshorts: So I'm sitting in fourth, all running well with me catching up to Colin (a little at a time) and BAM dc... Good to see they haven't fixed the network in GT6... Hopefully the msg got thru and we get FL and Winner results Capatowned: Don't worry rumble, I was in 1st place with a 15 sec lead on the 2nd last lap when I got d/c'ed too At least we got to start the race, poor farbs never even started. I think butters was pitted most of the race ? It just left bj and colin. hsv_butters: I managed to make the race tonight, my life was drama free! Happy days! Lap 2, BAM! Phone call. At lap 11 i couldn't multi task anymore and had to sit in pits. Congratulations to bjh1012 on victory, pole and fastest lap, with Colin_50 and Capatowned for the final podium positions. Another race wrapped up. See you next time for our race report from Silverstone. Division 5 Reporter/Photographer: T_Vue Division 6 Photographer: bjh1012 Editor: Jamie (Ad2mny)
