Welcome to another round of League racing. Spa Francorchamps is the track this time, and it produced some very exciting racing. Almost all the drivers thoroughly enjoyed this track whether they were leading or on the tail of the field. This track really suits the BRZ and seems very conducive to close racing, with long straights for drafting and straight-line braking areas for outbraking manoeuvers. We will have the Division 1 and 2 reports in the first part of the reports, and as always we will start with Division 1. Take it away warrior2167... With 2 rounds in the bank, the rooz gt6 league traveled to the world famous Spa Francorchamps circuit. The top 2 (Anon and Warrior) in the championship are separated by just 1 point,both having a win and pole position each. Once again a field of 10 fantastic drivers had arrived looking to do battle once more. With all the distractions and an untested steering wheel last week, Crunch was more than motivated for an improved performance. Onto qualifying, and it was a second pole this season for warrior with a time of 2:26 flat. A personal best of the season of 2nd was Cyber, then came Mustafur, Zampli, Anon, Crunch, fastboysmith, thestig, Vendalism and vh_mik. Lights went green and it was a clean start by most of field, with a sluggish start from cyber leaving warrior unchallenged into turn 1. The field then travels down to the hill through Eau Rouge with no incident. Now exiting Eau Rouge and Mustafur is able to draft and slingshot himself into the lead. Next lap warrior has the same idea and regains it straight back. Lap 3. While everyone has been sorting themselves into position, Mustafur and warrior have formed a group and have edged away from the 2nd group by 2.5 seconds. Group 2 consists of Cyber, Zampil and Anon who are still racing each other hard and have not yet began to fully work together to try and close down the leading 2. Group 3 is headed by fastboy, followed by thestig, crunch, Vend and vh_mik. They have fallen back as a result of some cut penalties and some off track excursions. Being 5 seconds behind group 2 at this stage, it would be a mighty effort to close the gap back up. Lap 4. Zampli had just spun on the exit of campus and was now right in the middle of some bonkers and awesome racing with group 3. That just left dancing partners Warrior + Musafur and Cyber + Anon separated by 4 seconds to battle it out for the win. I say dancing partners as 2 engines are better than 1 and better lap times can be achieved by bump drafting. Lap 7. Tragedy, as Anon spins on the exit of Stavelot and leaves Cyber without a partner. Halfway through the race and the race order is 1st Mustafur, 2nd warrior + 0.3, 3rd Cyber + 5.3, 4th Anon + 12.9, 5th Crunch + 16.9, 6th vh-mik + 17.5, 7th Zampli + 21.1, 8th fastboy + 25.9, 9th thestig + 35.6 and 10th Vend + 56.9. Lap 9. fastboysmith's internet decided to fail him. Lap 10. Warrior decides it's time to ditch his dancing partner and during the middle sector is able to pull a big enough gap over mustafur to break the tow. Lap 11. Zampli's internet follows suit. Lap 12. The race has now calmed down a bit with the closest battle for position now being between Crunch and Vh_mik for 5th. In 7th place it just wasn't thestig's day today. Neither was it Vendalism's, with both drivers looking to bounce back next week. It was however warrior's day as he took his 2nd round win of the season. 2nd place went to Mustafur who picked up the point for fastest lap with a 2:25.480 and who had later revealed he was driving with no HUD for the whole race. Completing the podium was Cyber finishing 14 seconds from the lead. Great read warrior2167! Congratulations to the top 3, as warrior2167 adds valuable points to a campionship lead with pole and the win. Now we will move on to Division 2, brought to you by Jono (N64TheStig007) The third round of the season saw the drivers travel to the legendary Spa Francorchamps, the longest track on the calendar. A highly entertaining qualifying session saw N64 take a lucky pole position, with Stu well up on his time, but caught traffic at just the wrong time. Much like the Nürburgring race, there was a jumbled grid. Stu and tb were starting last, as a result of heading to the pitlane at the end of qualifying. The start was electrifying. N64 slightly jumped the start, but received very little detriment. Scotty had got ahead of Cob at La Source, and slipstreamed N64 up the Kemmel Straight, and raced off to a large early lead. N64 made a meal of Les Combes and succumbed 2nd to Cob. There was carnage behind them, as Sik was forced off by tb. Natman barrelled his way inside F1R3 at Pouhon, and slipstreamed passed fRZn before Blaunchimont to move into 6th. It became clear that scotty now had a tremendous advantage, as he had broken clear of the draft. Overtaking attempts were frequent, but almost futile as many would be slipstreamed at the next long straight. Back to the action, and N64 tried to go around the outside of Cob at Blaunchimont again, but this time made a meal of it, and scored himself a penalty, dropping to 5th place behind cj and Joe. He would make amends at Les Combes the next lap, positioning his car perfectly to slingshot past cj and somehow launch past joe with no contact. The race received it's first casualty of the race when F1R3 was lag punted by tb at Les Combes on lap 3, parking up just before Bruxells. Scotty continued to grow his gap, while the 4 car train continued to fight it out behind them. Poor old fRZn was fighting well with natman and stu for 6th, but outbraked himself at Les Combes and dropped back to 8th on Lap 4. At the end of this lap, all hell broke loose in the final sector. N64 drafted up the inside of Cob, but at Blaunchimont N64's irritating lag spikes would knock Cob back behind Joe and cj. To make matters worse, N64 broke too late at the Bus Stop, allowing cj to pass around the outside. The replays showed an uncanny moment of lunacy where Cob was pushing Joe who was pushing N64 into the side of cj! Thankfully, no one spun. Cj maintained 2nd, while Cob launched up the inside of a napping N64 into La Source. This was followed by a silly lights show frustration from the #96 machine. But it wasn't done yet! The strong draft kept N64 and Joe in the fight, and N64 passed both Cob and cj into 2nd, with tensions running at boiling point! This was the break N64 needed, and he made no mistake in leaving the battle pack behind. Their squabbles had brought natman, stu, tb and fRZn into the equation too. Scotty had built up a 5 second gap by this stage, and was well placed to take victory. Sik had retired by this stage, albeit a long way back. This reporter thinks he will definitely be a big threat in the next race, if he can get some luck! It only took 1 sector for N64 to clear the draft, and he focused on hunting down the leader. The field was still relatively tight after 6 laps, until fRZn half spun tb, dropping them both back. Stu and natman came from seemingly nowhere to now being right in the thick of a 5 car battle. The group was so packed together, they were less than half a second apart through Blaunchimont on lap 7! Meanwhile, N64 had demolished the gap between himself and scotty, setting the fastest "non draft" lap in the process (2:26.459) and was now on scotty's tail on lap 8. The pair were 6.5 seconds ahead by this stage, and began to squabble for the main prize. They battled for 2 laps, until scotty broke too late and caught wheelspin at the Bus Stop, game over. N64 was now clear. fRZn decided enough was enough and parked up at Campus. Natman had also broken free of the battle pack, and used his pace to try and catch scotty for 2nd place. In midst of his battling, he was the only Div 2 driver to reach the 25's, a truly astonishing lap. Scotty began to fade following his loss of the lead, as Natman had caught and passed him by lap 14 with a brilliant outbraking manoeuvre into Les Combes. Sadly for Joe, who was biding his time, ran wide at Blaunchimont and ruined his braking for Bus Stop. To rub salt into the wounds, he had spun on the exit, ruining a great performance, falling behind tb in 8th place. Scotty's downfall continued when the battle pack caught him. With 3 laps to go, he ran wide at La Source and let them all through, falling to 6th. A strong run through Eau Rouge and a Cob penalty kept him within striking distance. With just 2 laps to go, stu made a brilliant move on cj to take 3rd. Cob and stu had cleared cj and scotty, so the battle for the final spot on the podium was between the red and yellow cars. A poor middle sector from Cob settled the fight in stu's favour. A mistake by joe ended his race on the final lap. But in the end, N64 had produced a truly blistering drive to emphatically take his 3rd win in a row, 10 and a half seconds ahead of natman, whose pace was really exceptional at cruicial points in the race. Stu's 3rd place came from almost nowhere, and a great comeback from his Apricot Hill disaster, and to be robbed in qualifying. This reporter is tipping a really strong 2nd half of the season for him. Cob drove exceptionally, but 4th would not leave him satisfied at all. Cj drove well for 5th, but like Cob, it could have been better. Scotty definitely had reasons to be bitter with 6th, having driven so well in the first stint. he was certainly deserving of much more. Tb had a poor race, and probably was lucky to benefit from joe's misfortune to finish 7th. Joe should have been 4th at least, but 8th after parking up certainly wasn't what he was after. It just proves that in ROOZ, just one lapse of concentration can have you reeling. fRZn and Sik scored points, whereas F1R3's DNF left him 11th. Onto Trial Mountain next, where N64 will be looking to put the title almost out of reach from his rivals following his ecstasy at Spa. The narrow, bumpy and elevating track had been kind to him in the past, will we see a 4th victory in a row, or will natman and Cob put a stop to the juggernaut? Only time will tell... Cheers and here's to no lag! Jono Great write up Jono, and you can see the other 20 (!!) odd photo's I couldn't fit in the Division 2 thread. Stay tuned for Part 2. Division 1 Reporter/Photographer: warrior2167 Division 2 Reporter/Photographer: Jono (N64TheStig007) Editor: Jamie (Ad2mny)
