Welcome to part 3 of the League racing reports from Tokyo R246. This final report will include the Division 5 and 6 reports. Here is the Division 5 report, brought to you by VARDZ31: The penultimate round of the season in division 5 at the Tokyo street circuit R246 saw the title awarded to bjh1012, when his lead became unreachable by all other drivers. With the points that he had accumulated over the first 4 rounds and the points awarded for the final three rounds it will go down as one of the most popular and truly deserved championship winners of not only this but many seasons past and many seasons to come. With the Qualifying session taking place in the practice mode due to an on going connection issue, it was RanoK3n with the quickest time of the session, followed by Copperj32, VARDZ31, JAKO155, Castrosfriendche and the final spot was filled by mmm-homebrew. When the red lights went out, both Copper and Vardz missed the start and it was Rano through turn 1 with a handy gap, followed by Jako and Castro. Chasing them was Copper in his shiny new livery then homebrew and Vardz. Action and passing was a-plenty in the first few laps. On lap 2 homebrew made a bold move around the outside of Copper through turn 1 into 4th, and he would continue his charge up the standings when he passed castro for 3rd on the downhill run through turns 11 and 12. On lap 3 the first lead change would occur when Jako dived under Rano after he left the door open going into turn 1. Also occurring on lap 3 and also in turn 1 Vardz passed a parked Copper who was stranded on the inside wall after spinning. On lap 5 Vardz and Copper would go past Castro who ran wide into the wall at turn 2, and in trying to regather control spun around on the ripple strip directly in front of Vardz, giving him a very anxious moment. On lap 7, Jako increased the lead to 3 seconds over Rano by setting the fastest lap of the race at the time. Homebrew had settled into 3rd, 8.3 seconds from the lead followed by Vardz 11.3 seconds back then Copper at 13.2 and Castro 18.2 in arrears. On lap 10 Rano was the first to pit for fuel and tyres. Vardz gave up his spot by running wide at turn 2 then drifted across the track through turn 3 and Copper was there to pounce. As Vardz ghosted, copper was through him and away on the straight leading up to turn 4. On lap 13, after the first series of stops had taken place, Rano's strategy of stopping first seemed to be working, as he had a lead of 5.5 seconds over Jako who had been the last to stop. Homebrew in 3rd was 11.3 seconds from the lead followed by copper and Castro at 18 seconds and Vardz 25 seconds behind Rano. On lap 18 the final lead change would take place and it was Jako, being on much fresher tyres, got a great run on Rano out of the double right handers of turn 9 and 10, and was there to go past a ghosting Rano after he had clipped the inside wall prior to turn 15. So after the 2nd round of stops had been completed, and with 6 laps left to run, Jako was still leading Rano by 3.5 seconds. In 3rd was still homebrew 22 seconds behind 2nd place but he had Copper breathing down his neck in 4th, and in 5th was Vardz just 3 seconds back from copper. Castro had tailed of to be over a minute from the race lead. In what could be a vital extra point, the side battle for the fastest lap was stepped up a cog or two by everyone. On lap 23 Copper was the first into the 31's with a .731. Jako joined him on the following lap with a 31"819 but it was Rano who eclipsed copper on lap 24 with a 31"673. Vardz joined the front three in the 31's on lap 26 with a 31"859 but it would be Jako to secure the bonus point, also on lap 26 by a mere .014 quicker than Rano. It just wouldn't be a Div 5 race unless there was last lap drama. With Jako leading comfortably by 13 secs over Rano, who was in turn 21 seconds in front of Copper, who had managed to pass Homebrew for third, Rano ran out of fuel on the exit of turn 1. This would allow Copper, Homebrew and Vardz to gain a spot, but Rano wasn't the only one to exhaust their fuel supplies. Copper, on passing the pit entry also ran out. This gifted Homebrew 2nd spot and his first visit to the podium for the season. Copper would have just enough gap to hold off a fast approaching Vardz and secure the third step of the podium. The gap at the line was a mere .428 of a second, leaving Vardz in 4th AGAIN( he was heard to say that he is changing his number to 4 for next season). But the race and top step of the podium for the first time in his ROOZ racing career belonged to JAKO155 who finished 36 seconds in front of his nearest rival. So the race for 2nd spot in the title race is still wide open, with anyone of 5 drivers still a chance of securing the silverware in the final race of the season, which will take place at Circuit de Spa Francorchamps. Held over a torturous 41 laps and with the implementing of a tyre compound change mandatory it will come down to not only the best driver on the night but who has the best strategy on the night. Finally, it was said earlier this week and I feel it fitting to sign off with these words. BRUCE HALE REIGN IN PEACE RACE QUOTES: JAKO155 (1st): Ho Ho! Finally my first victory with Raceonoz! It was a brilliant Qualifying. I was .200 behind pole and I got 4th! Lights went out and me and Suicid (ranok3n) had a terrific start. I knew I needed a miracle to get in front of Suicid and took it from the inside. Suicid pitted at lap 10 and I waited until 14. It was costly as my worn out tires got crappy and barely any handling lol. So It was an 11 second differential from 5 sec in front to 6 sec behind. Then when it was time for the second pit stop I decided to pit 2 laps after Suicid because of the advantage before. The last few laps were intense and I honestly thought I would choke. But when we had the white flag, Suicid and Castro ran out of fuel. My dad wasnt happy about me celebrating my win. I was Extremely loud lol. Anyways Congrats Homebrew and Copper for taking the rest of the podium. Thanks to Suicid for hosting and for the pressure and catch u blokes at Spa copperj32 (3rd): Qualifying for me was hit and miss, Had a good lap going and lost it on a chicane and speared the opposite wall which ruined one of ranok's laps (sorry bout that ). I managed to get a good lap in and scored provisional pole with about 2 min left in qualifying. Ranok must of got a better lap just before race start cause when we lined up to start I was in P2 and thought wtf . Got a poor start and dropped back to 4th after the first corner after a good move up the inside by Castro. Into the 2nd lap and home brew got a good run on me down the main straight and pushed me back to 5th with vardz just waiting for me to stuff up. I tried to retake p4 from homebrew at the 1st corner on lap 3 but gassed it a bit early and hit the wall. Vardz pounced and back to 6th I went. Got back on track and tried to put in some consistent lap times to catch vardz. Lap 5 saw castro have a spin coming out of the 2nd corner which gifted vardz 4th and me 5th. I was gaining on vardz every lap and finally got him on lap 10 coming out of the 2nd corner. I pitted on lap 11 from p2 and rejoined in p5. By the time everyone had pitted I was in 4th and trying to catch home brew. Pitted again on lap 21 still in 4th with home brew just in front. Castro flew past into 5th while I was leaving the pits, managed to get past him on lap 22 after he had a moment and set about chasing down home brew who had a 2 sec gap on me. Coming out of the first turn on lap 25 home brew clipped the wall which allowed me close enough for a pass into turn 2. Lap 28 I had home brew crawling all over me trying to get past, I managed to hold him off until the last lap when I ran out of fuel just as I went past the pit entry. Home brew flew past to take 2nd and I managed to just get 3rd in front of vardz. Good racing all round and heaps of pressure applied by vardz, homebrew and castro. ranok3n (5th): Qualifying was a little frustrating on my end. 2 of my hot laps were ruined by some of you guys spinning in really awkward positions lol. Not pissed or anything and I don't blame any of you I came up to spots where there was no way around or just plain hard to see. Managed to cross the line with enough time to complete a last lap which was good enough to steal Jako's (or maybe it was Vardz?) provisional pole! Start of the race went as expected and I was able to keep pole, but I was also surprised that I had a little gap to 2nd. The next couple of laps were fairly straight forward with me leading Jako and a gap slowly forming to 3rd. I lost the lead to Jako after one too many little mistakes but didn't put up much of a fight to keep him behind as I was trying to preserve my tyres as much as possible. I pitted on lap 10 I think, with Jako leading me by 6 seconds. Once out of the pits, I put in a couple of hot laps and reeled in the gap while Jako was on very worn tyres, this also helped me undercut him when he pitted, giving me a healthy 5 second lead. Again, my little brushes with the wall were enough for that gap to diminish and Jako eventually overtaking me again a lap or two before I went in for my 2nd pit stop. Unfortunately for me, Jako either had an idea of his pit window, or he learnt from the last time and pitted the lap after me to reduce any gap I could gain on him. As I came around back to the start/finish line, Jako was well out of the pits and was 3 seconds in front. Knowing it would be a tough ask to overtake Jako on fresher tyres, I settled for 2nd place and started to string together a couple of 31/32's. Jako appeared to be doing roughly the same pace so the gap was being managed nicely by him. Unfortunately for me my race came to an end at the start of the last lap. Just as I crossed the line I ran out of fuel. I believed I had enough fuel as I thought the red graphic part of the fuel gauge was part of a reserve tank! As I slowly made my way around I was at the mercy of Homebrew, copper and Vardz. It also seems I wasn't the only one who short changed myself on fuel! So there goes my chance of any championship run. CastrosfriendChe (6th): My race was a non event. I put enough prac into it to feel confident of a good run, but everything pretty much went out the window bar my 3 pit stop approach...and even then I was close to switching that up on the fly. Qualy was a non event, just couldn't smash out a good run at all. On the starting line in 5th position I kept an open mind but already knew it was going to be a tough race...it was obvious everyone had put in some good prac and the pace was good. Lights turned green and it appeared a couple of guys had a poor start, so by the end of the first straight I had enough speed to jump, I believe a couple of positions, putting me into 3rd. I lasted a few laps, maybe 3, till eventually exiting the second corner going into third I hit the ripple strip and spun out. Thankfully i went invisible so as to not hold anyone else back and there begun my run from the rear in 6th place. The gap wasn't too bad, but with a 3 stop pit strategy in mind, I was in quite the precarious position. I did want to switch to a 2 stop approach but it was too late, I had pushed too hard to reduce the gap so I needed a 3 stop approach. So in I went while everyone else drove off into the sunset, the end. Back on track my pace wasn't completely off the pace and the extra grip probably was to my advantage. Eventually I could see different poeple pitting and somehow I eventually came out in front of VARDZ (I believe) and with a slight gap. Problem...my second pit stop is coming up. So with VARDZ in all likelyhood catching me anyway, I duck off into the pits and yet again resume 6th position. By now it had most likely already started but multiple times I kept hitting walls and getting damage. Way too often. In the mix somewhere I did get past Copper as he was leaving pits but the gap was very small and there was no need for me to pit for him to get past, like a hot knife through butter and my heart...I resumed 6th position. I pitted for the last time and made a foolish mistake. If I erred to the conservative side, I'd have stuck 30 litres into the tank. Nup. Not today, not now, I'm taking a chance. I stuck 20 litres in the tank. Maybe there was some lead in my wine, cause that is crazy! With a lap and a half to go I was out of fuel. Never being in that situation I actually hadn't a clue how it worked, would the car die eventually or keep going, could I pit and refuel, well as i drove through pits I got my answer...and as the timer counted down...I was probably a half lap from the finish line when the game was up. Big thumbs up to the podium and everyone really, set a cracking good pace throughout Nice work VARDZ31. Well done JAKO155 on the race win, and congratulations to mmm_homebrew and copperj32 for the final podium positions. Now we move on to our final report, Division 6, brought to you once again by PurpleDog: This week saw the Maclaren F1’s line up on the rubber stripping Tokyo R246 circuit for a 29 lap trip of smoking rubber. No member of the pit crew would be passengers for this round. Qualification saw Peach take pole, with Neemo lining up beside him. Dog and Clevo were on row 2. Pat was the fourth fastest qualifier, with Motho to take up the tail as a late entrant. However, the timing marshal got things a little mixed up on the way to the grid, and no one started where they were meant to. As the lights went out, Neemo had an engine failure and couldn’t move off the line, while Dog’s new traction control system launched him to Turn 1 in a cloud of tyre smoke. Turn 1 immediately claimed Clevo and Pat, to allow Peach and Motho through to chase the running Dog. By turn 4, Peach was catching Dog, who was trying to redress to Peach who should have been in P1 at the start. At turn 5 when Peach was past, he applied a little too much power to the cold rear bags, and that was the end of his competitive period of the race. By lap 4 the race was clearly going to be between Peach and motho, with 4 seconds between them and another 21 seconds back to Clevo and Pat’s battle for the last podium spot. Lap 8 saw the start of the pit stop routine, with Clevo being the first to take on fresh rubber to sacrifice to the brutal street circuit’s tarmac. Lap 9 saw a temporary change at the front with Peach coming in to pit, allowing motho to take P1 until he made his first stop one lap later. This order would see the race through to completion, with the positions only briefly swapping between laps due to pitstops. A well deserved win to Peach, and second place to motho, with Pat taking the third step on the podium. 1st CPTNPEACH 46:00.XXX – FL 1:31.149 2ND motho +18.853 – FL 1:31.404 3rd patg65 +1:44.437 – FL 1:33.404 4th Clevohead +2:34.162 – FL 1:34.516 5th PurpleDog +2:39.854 – FL 1:33.157 Nice report PurpleDog. Congratulations CPTNPEACH for the triple crown, pole, race win and fastest lap. Well done also to motho and patg65 for the final podium positions. So another weekend of racing over, with a few Division championships pretty much wrapped up. Next round is at Spa Francorchamps, a personal favourite but another tyre shredder, especially with the new updated car settings. Till next time! Division 5 Reporter/Photographer: VARDZ31 Division 6 Reporter/Photographer: PurpleDog Tables: DRZ-Hatfield Editor: Jamie (Ad2mny)
