Welcome to the final round of racing for season 15. This round was held at Spa Francorchamps circuit, an undulating circuit with a good mix of low and high speed turns, a true test for the drivers in the sometimes unforgiving McLaren. Unfortunately we only have two full reports for this round, with most of the reporters taking an early but well deserved break from their reporting duties. We will start with results from Division 1 and 2, then we have full reports for Division 3 and 4, and finally a round-up of results from Division 5 and 6. Here is Division 1: Final Results: 1st MINT_GTR : What a race!!! The final round had it all.......different strategies......anxiety attacks (from me)......I will start from the top. Although not being the most crucial qualifying session for the season, starting from pole was exactly to plan. As the lights went out, I was happy to have consolidated my position and started focusing on a solid first stint. As lap 10 approached and my first pitstop was in sight, I was well aware that warrior would be breathing down my neck so just kept my eyes out of the mirror and pitted in the lead to start my 2nd stint with mediums. Coming out and slotting behind Anon and Zampli due to their earlier pit stops, gave me a moment to decide whether my 3 stop strategy would work but I soldiered on in confidence that my pace on worn tyres would prevail. I fell into a really good rhythm on mediums and with pit stops occurring from the top 3 on 4 stop strategies, I regained the lead to pit in on lap 21 with 2 solid soft stints to go. My third is stint is where I can say it put me in the winning position. I held off the urge to take the fastest lap honours and sacrifice tyre life and went for fast consistency. I set myself a lap number each lap and matched it every time which actually scared me because I was waiting for this perfect run to slip. So as I ran out on my final stint with 10 laps to go and Anon and Warrior pitted for their final set shortly after, the stage was set for a climax finish. I pushed as hard as I could without sacrificing tyres but with each lap my gap to Anon was getting smaller and smaller. My first panic attacked arrived 3 laps out when the inevitable happened, Anon had caught me and was in sight of the lead when I see, crossing over with 2 laps left, he spins coming out of the bus stop. Relief was short lived though as I had warrior on the charge. The final lap was by far the most cautious and scariest lap I have ever done but to come out on top and cross over first has become my most memorable victory here at ROOZ. A massive congratulations to Warrior for taking out the championship and Anon for driving the wheels of the Macca at the end of the season to finish 3rd A big shout out to the mods for all their hard work throughout the season, even with the curve ball that PD threw at us mid season, filled with both good and bad, you guys still made it run so smooth and is the reason why this is the best racing community in Australia With a quick overlook of my first season here at ROOZ, it has been a season of strengths and weaknesses that have come out but to finish 2nd overall, I have out performed my expectations by far. Against such a talented but awesome bunch of aliens, it has been awesome racing and I am confident the next car will be easier than this beast so I only expect next season to be even more intense. 2nd warrior2167 : Well done Mint and congrats on your 1st official race win. Not 100% happy with my race, as I had a couple of spins, but can't complain with the 2nd place result. My race started well and got quickly into a rhythm behind mint. Coming up to my first stop on lap 10, I began to close right up on mint and we entered the pits bumper to bumper. Since I lost a bit of time being that close to Mint and coming out 5 odd seconds behind Anon and Zampli, I decided to switch to a 4 stopper. My 2nd stop was on lap 18 and I put on the required medium tyres, the stint was going well untill I dropped it and fell behind anon, zampli and optimus. Only a short stint on the meds was required and I was back in on lap 25 and bolted the softs on once again. My pace was good and I set my fastest lap in the 4th stint but blew it again when I spun in the same spot. My final stop was on lap 18 and I came out 12 seconds behind mint and anon. Coming to the closing stages I could see them in the distance and I thought Anon was in the best spot having 1 lap fresher tyres than Mint, my only hope of winning was if they held each other up, but that was dashed when I saw a wall of smoke at the final corner and see Anon to the side. That left me in 2nd with 2 laps to go, Mint's tyres were going but he had a big enough gap and took a well deserved win, 1.5secs ahead of myself. So as we conclude another successful championship, thank you once again to all the rooz staff who put this show together. 3rd Anon666 : Another good season. Great way to finish it off, well almost. It was nearly an awesome finish to the season, but I ran out of talent on worn tyres at the end. What could have been??!! Well done to Warrior, another championship. Well done to Mint, first Div 1 win I believe, and consistency should see you second overall. I must say, that was one of the toughest seasons I've been in and surprisingly close. 4th OptimusAteMyBaby 5th ROTOR_AU86 : Congrats to @MINT_GTR for his first win of the season, and to @warrior2167 for the Championship! Way to end the season MINT on a high! Just need to keep that going into next season, which I am really looking forward to! I just wish I joined at the start of the season... What a terrible terrible race for me... Had a bad start and dropped two places into the first corner... Going into Eau Rouge I was pushed out wide and got a 3 second penalty, however somehow didn't loose any more spots... I was sitting behind Fastboy and Optimus with about a 2.5 second gap... After everything settled down, I started to get into rhythm... By lap 4 I started pulling in Fastboy and Optimus then they started having a good little scrap, I ended up getting past both of them in the first corner like they did to me! By this time Mint, Warrior and Anon had about a 8-10sec lead... I stayed in my rhythm, and was starting to pull them in towards the end of the first stint to about 5-6 seconds... Here is where it went Bad. Pitted on lap 10 sitting in 3rd place, however only to realize when I went to select Medium's I had NONE! I had them on my Prac McLaren, but not my race one... I should be DSQ because I didn't have medium's, only hard's.... Anyways I thought I would just go on and do a stint, sitting on 2:10's I started to get frustrated... After about 4 laps on these, I thought I would pit again for Soft's.. and it went even more bad... That stupid pit entry... you would think soon you crossed the line that it would take care of itself, but no... I accepted Hard's again and full fuel... grrrr. Now sitting in 10th... Leaving the pits with super frustration going up through Eau Rouge I clipped the in-side of the kerbing and the car got light, slid and did about 20 thousand spins (would look pretty cool on replay)... By this time I wanted to rage quit, however wanted points and knew I could at least try and claw my way back... So pitted once more for soft's and started putting in some good lap times... Kept up consistency and ended up finishing 5th... I am really looking forward to next season with you lads 6th Zampli 7th theStig-13 8th Cyber_STIG_77 9th whiteracer52 10th (DSC) fastboysmith : wow what a race. Was having a solid run in my first stint keeping pace with the leaders until a spin in front of optimus. Got myself back together, got these tyres up to lap 8 after destroying them in the spin, pitted, put on the Meds for 2 stints to get myself to lap 28 where the aim from there was 2 stints on softs to the end. Was going good until a family member decided to use a faulty clothes iron (which is known to be rooted ) and blew out the RCD in the board (thanks mum!). Was on for what could have been a 5th or 6th. Oh well bring on next season with a car with its engine in the right spot. 11th (DSQ) N64TheStig007: Please disqualify me from the results, my lack of activity on the forums lately and ignorance has made me cheat, I started the race on Mediums in the hope of gaining an advantage, but it didn't matter anyway. Sorry Stu. My glitchy pedals in the first half were karma! Going to have a look and clean them tomorrow. Well done MINT on the victory, and Warrior for taking a 7th(?) season in a row? It's a truly insane run! It looked like a really awesome strategic battle, I can't wait to crack into the report tomorrow. It's been an extremely tough season for all of us, however I'm really looking forward to next season with a much more controllable car! Looks like that race was pretty action packed. warrior2167 comes out in the top spot of the Championship. Only 1 finish off the podium. Well done. MINT_GTR takes Pole and the win, well done also. warrior2167 and Anon666 round out the final podium positions. On to division 2: Final results: 1st natmanscoop : Well done on the championship Faine, and Stu, runner-up again?! Next season mate! Yikes on that 2:04.x lap in the race Faine, if you'd run a 5 or even 6 stop strategy, would've had us neck & neck to the line. Looked like Razor almost gave 2nd a shake at the end too. Cracking battle between Faine & I for the first third of the race, he actually had me worried for a while that my Algebra was whack! I kept grinding out the laps though, did three 2:06.x in a row one stint which was my race-pace target, very happy with that - looks like practice DOES pay off! Here's cheers to S2, cyas in practice for S3. 2nd Faine : Thankyou so much everyone for making this such an awesome season for me. Had such a fun time. And best people to share it with. Thankyou rooz family. Anyways, I'm off to the Motorsport academy all week so I'll try and come on as much as possible! Thanks guys 3rd razor4797 : Wow what a finish to an epic season! I was absolutely buggered after last night. I knew I had to be consistent and not make any mistakes during the race, as my outright speed wasn't very fast. I qualified 6th out of the starting 9. Managed an okay start and got pushed wide into turn (1?). Luckily I drove it around the outside into 4th. I feel for you CAGM, I reckon you would have had a cracker of a race. I ended up going on a 3 stop strategy; soft, medium, soft, soft. I was surprisingly very good on the tyres which helped massively. Had a few close battles with both TB and Cob. Pretty happy with 3rd, and I think that means I finish 3rd in the championship too, and it's also my 3rd podium of the season. But all eyes were on natman and Faine; natman for his amazing victory and Faine for his super lap - 2:04.6 A big thanks to everyone involved in making all of this possible. Your hard work is very appreciated Bring on season 3!!! 4th t_b_williams : What a race. Was VERY suprised to qualify 4th on the grid, and was into 3rd by the first run through eau rouge. But I threw it all away with a spin coming out of the bus stop at the end of the very first lap. 3rd to last, just like that. Then it would not have been more than a lap later, lost it again at Les Combes. My heart sank. Well might just have to run at the back then. But strategy played its part, and when I put my second set of softs on, I was catching Cob and Razor hand over fist as they were (I assume) on mediums. Got past Cob but couldn't catch Razor before he pitted. Was not sure how things were going to play out with everyone stopping at different times, but after the last stop I found myself in 4th. If my spins didn't eventuate I may have been right with Razor at the end, but hey, thats a big if. Well done Faine on the championship mate, well deserved. Too fast. Thanks to all in Div 2 for the fantastic racing this season. And a big thankyou to all the mod team and staff for the hard work you guys put in to make this happen. See you all next season. If not before. 5th stuart170773 : My night, in one word........slow Didn't do a lot of practice, struggled to fluke a mid 7 during the week and thought I would be way off the pace seeing what mint and rotor were running. Screwed up my first 3 qual laps so parked it and started rear of grid, and hoped once I found a bit of rhythm I could hold on for a result with 3 stops. After 3 laps I knew I was in a whole lot of pain, so just ran laps to get to the end. I screwed up the final stop, only had 8 laps to the end, but pressed the accel in pit lane so selected meds Instead of the softs. Wouldn't have made any difference anyway I don't think. Ended up 2 mins down on the leaders, had nothing !!! I think 5th still gives me second in the championship (BRIDESMAID AGAIN lol) so not a bad result. Thanks for the season again guys, had some great battles throughout, good fun. 6th Jim_aka_theman 7th CobMcCool 8th leeboy910 9th (DSC) ComeAndGetMe7 : What a cracking race to finish off the season, qualified 3rd with 2:07.2 my best lap on a full tank of gas. Got a decent start considering I was rolling with traction control on for the first time in the season to try preserve the tyres not that it helped much considering softs were shredded by lap 8 and meds wouldn't even last 10 laps in practice. I dropped only a single position going into turn 1 then the monkey keeping the servers running at PD thought it would be funny to disconnect me..... Congratulations to the podium in particularly Natman you truly brought your A game to the final round. As for Faine congratulations on the championship win and best of luck rolling with the aliens next season. Speaking from experience after being thrown in the deep end in season 1 you truly have to work on your consistency and tyre conservation as Warrior doesn't make mistakes and will put out hot lap after hot lap. There's no doubt you have the outright speed to keep up with them though. So another season has come and gone. It was a tough one all right not only the car choice and PD turning the tables on us mid season, but a community in grieving after the loss of a great mate and racer. RIP Bruce. The season brought with it some cracking racing and I am pleased with my 2 podiums but am left still chasing that elusive 1st win.... I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow division 2 compatriots and the entire mod team who put in the hard yards behind the scenes in putting together another successful season and ensure everything ran smoothly. Congratulations Faine for the championship win, with 2 wins and 3 podiums. Well done. Faine also scored points for pole and fastest lap this round. It was natmanscoops night though, well done for the win. Faine and razor4797 took the final podium positions. Finally for part 1, here is the Division 3 report, brought to you by smokinscotty: With the division championship winner already decided the pressure was on to see who could wrangle the most points from a grueling 41 laps of the famous Spa-Francorchamps to claim a podium finish at this the final round of the season. I'd like to start this write up with an apology. Beau was once again quickest, and did a tremendous job leading the pack for most of the race, until he was unfortunately disconnected within the last 2 laps. Hatfield and Gary had a race altering crash, but due to the inefficiency of our lovely host PD, I will be unable to cover any of these events as my data does not have any of these drivers shown. Qualifying would see Beau come out fastest (apparently ). Next up was Slambo, once again showing a strong turn of pace. Groover was in top form and would pip Scotty for third. Stumbles would lock out 5th ahead of Hatfield or Gary(?). Sparkles was next in the queue making a welcome return to the series. Dutch would take the next spot ahead of Hatfield or Gary(?) and the pack was rounded out with S54VED. S_CLOSE was in there somewhere too. (edit Sorry guys cant find any records in the thread as to the missing drivers' starting positions - Ad2mny) The pack headed through Eau Rouge for the first time with Groover leading the way from Slambo after diving up the inside at La Source. The two came together at the start of the straight and allowed Scotty to get involved in their battle. The opening seven laps were run at a frantic pace, seeming more like a sprint than an endurance event. Several drivers would have moments, some more frequently than others. Scotty for example spun at the high speed turn 18 three laps in a row, putting him well down the order and struggling to make time. Serg had a lose in the opening laps and this would relegate him down the field. Sparklehead and Dutch struggled with the unruly McLaren. Saved showed great pace but lacked consistency, seeming to fence it every time he could get to the pointy end. Groover and Slambo had their fair share of moments both making mistakes and ending up off track. The hero of the opening stanza was Stumbles who drove very consistently and would lead the pack for most of the first portion of the race. One mistake though was enough to forfeit the lead, with a spectacular spin at La Source. Lap 10 saw strategy come into play. Serg had pulled the trigger early and pitted on lap 8 and while most were making their first stop he made the most of the empty track, setting blistering sector times and setting the fastest lap. This would be beaten by Saved who clocked up a great lap fresh from pit lane. Stumbles played his pit stop card perfectly, coming out ahead of Groover and re-taking the lead in the pits, sadly it would soon be undone with a spin at Eau Rouge. Groover would hold the lead although coming under fire by Serg, but as Serg was on a different strategy, he would return to the pits after a few laps clinging to the back of the leader. This left Saved to take up the fight reeling in the leader on his second set of soft tyres. A spin would see him pass the torch to Slambo, but Groover now had a comfortable 10 second lead. By lap 22 everybody had made at least 2 stops and the order was Groover Serg +11.147 Saved +17.872 Slambo +18.089 Scotty +39.635 Stumbles +42.034 Slambo would fight and pass Saved, and Groover had a spin losing his comfortable margin and his lead to Serg. Another mistake from Groover on the next lap would see Slambo and Saved also get by, although Saved was nice enough to put on a show, performing perfect pirouettes in front of Groover and letting him back past. Serg would pit from the lead on lap 25 and it was Slambo who would lead. With all the chaos that had been going on up the front, Scotty had started taking bit bites out of the leaders, reducing the margin to 21 seconds. Groover was driving out of his skin to try and catch Slambo. The gap between the two constantly see-sawing in favour of one or the other. At lap 30 Groover was all over slambo at the front. Scotty had further closed the deficit, it was down to just nine seconds now. It was becoming clear that Scotty was still pretty fast on the used tyres and able to minimise the time lost with low grip. Saved was struggling on the mediums and losing time. Serg was still fighting hard although with eleven laps to go and one stop remaining a podium looked unlikely. Groover and Slambo headed for pit road to prepare for the eleven lap dash to the flag. Scotty on the other hand had done his eleven lap stint at the start of the race, planning to have more pace at the end of the race, and passed them as they prepared. Scotty would pit next lap, promoting Serg to the lead, and Groover had got by Slambo to carry second out of La Source. Lap 33 and Groover was a man on a mission, setting the fastest lap of the race and igniting a battle with Serg for the lead, eventually getting the job done. Scotty had picked up his pace, setting his fastest lap on the same lap only a tenth slower than Groover but much quicker than Slambo, who was caught between the two. Serg came in for his final stop and it seemed it would be between Groover, Slambo and Scotty for the trophy. With only 5 laps left, Groover was out in front and looking fast. Scotty had made his way past Slambo, and had his sights on the leader as Slambo's pace began to fade a little. Four to go and Scotty was now within 1.5 seconds of Groover. Slambo was now 11 seconds from the lead, and Serg was a further 19 seconds back. Two to go, the gap at the front was only 1.2 but Scotty choked coming out of La Source and gave Groover an extra second of breathing space. Slambo could see Serg starting to close the gap drastically, it was down to a mere five seconds. Final Lap. Can Groover hold off the pressure of the champion elect. Would Serg get past Slambo for a sneaky podium. After an hour and a half of some of the best racing seen all season, it would come down to tenths of a second per sector to decide the order at the finish. By the second sector Scotty is now 1.487 behind Groover. Both drivers have their front left worn down to three and are in the red on the fuel guage. Slambo is also looking at the fuel guage nervously as Serg looms up behind him. Coming through the second sector split Scotty is now within a second of Groover and in his slipstream. He gains through turn 18 but as he did earlier in the race unsettled the car on exit, and would need to be super clean through the chicane to clinch the win. It was time to win it or bin it. Serg gained two seconds on Slambo in the second sector of the final lap, and was gaining fast. The pressure was on Slambo, who would need to be super clean to hold off Serg only two seconds behind him now. Groover kept his cool remarkably well and as Scotty made his run for the chicane, The orange McLaren touched the grass just as it passed its braking marker, shooting Scotty down the road straight at Groover. With a cool hand Groover turned in, watched Scottys ghosting car shoot across in front of him and drove the car up to collect the flag and claim his first win of the season and amongst the ROOZ community. Slambo held out a valiant charge by Serge, the gap being a mere six tenths at the line! Congrats to Groover on a great drive to take the win. Congrats to Scotty for second and the Championship win. Well done to Slambo on getting on the podium both in this race and second in the championship, and to Serg for putting on such a great drive to almost get Slambo at Spa and third in the championship. Hatfield was next across the line ahead of Gary and Saved. Stumbles did a great job not to be lapped, spotting the leaders closing in on him late in the race and going on to set a very respectable PB in the process. Of the non finishers a special mention to Beau who was, according to all who could see him, driving at a higher level than any of the others could match. If it weren't for the DSC he would have surely won. Hard luck to Dutch and Sparkles who made a great effort to get out there but were hindered by a lack of practice time, inevitably leaving them off the pace and going into the race with minimal strategic planning. Look forward to seeing you back out there next season! It has been a great season and one that will be remembered fondly by some, while I'm sure some will do their best to forget it. It has been a hell of a ride fighting the car against some challenging circuits and race formats. Bring on series three! Race Quotes: groover33 (1st) : Thanks to all the guys for some of the best racing I've done in along time and to Gary and stumbles for looking after our races keep up the good job boys. I'm glad I got a win in my first season back but I think it's going to be even harder next season. But bring on season 3 can't wait already cheers. smokinscotty (2nd) : What a cracker of a race. I couldn't see Hat, Beau or Gary, but soldiered on as best I could. 3 spins in as many laps saw me about 30 seconds behind the leaders before the first stop, but I didn't give up, I just kept pushing and it seemed I was gaining good time late in the stints when tyres were worn. By the final laps I had caught up to Groover, but after cutting eau rouge and having to lift, I forfeited a couple of seconds on the second last lap. coming up to the final chicane I was back in the draft of groover's car and closing until I touched the grass as I grabbed the anchors and lost it, almost taking out Groover in the process! Great drive Groover! You handled the pressure well in those closing laps. Bad luck to Beau, even if I couldn't see you on track, from what I've heard you were smashing it again. A big thank you to everyone in the Division, it has been a great season with its ups and downs. Special thanks to Stumbles and Gary for your hosting, and Hatfield for your excellent spreadsheets which make my job as reporter a lot easier! slambobagan (3rd) : Yuss pretty happy with taking out 2nd place in the championship, didn't actually win a round but staying in the top 5 for every race helped. Pretty close finish there with S Close. I really struggled with the meds on last tyre stint had there been another lap you would of got me. Strange race really, didn't really have the pace at all, and didn't really know what was going on with all the different strategies, somehow I pulled of a 3rd, this must of been my most consistent race only 2 minor spins in 41 laps. Well done groover for the win. Scotty for the champ and hard luck beau you definitely smoked everyone and would have won for sure. A bit gutted how you pipped pole off me with 1/2 min on the clock but you deserve it you were way quicker in the race. Thanks everyone for a great debut season looking foward to the next one. S_CLOSE (4th) : Congrats to the Scotty for taking the championship!!! Slambo takes second place in the championship, well done mate. A third for me, not too bad Thanks everyone for a great season, specially to Stumbles for all his captain duties, to Gary for being second in charge and Hatfield for his computer power, beep bop beep bop lol. See you guys around. DRZ-Hatfield (5th) : Well not a very good night for me. Had no practice whatsoever and we started qualifying, so I used the time to check my pit entry and I wanted to run 1 lap on mediums to see what pace they had. Well I spun on my mediums lap and by that stage I was strapped for time so I just kept testing the pit in lol. Of course I started on softs in almost last (S54VED i think reset to pits). Got a great start as usual and jumped up to 7th-ish after Eau Rouge. Unfortunately gary forgot(?) to brake and I was punted into the wall with some left rear damage. Got going again (gary waited good boy) and started making up ground all the while trying to work out strategy in my head. Well 9 laps on softs was not good so second stint I tried 8 which didn't work so then I tried 7 pitting at the end of lap 23. I got 8 on the next stint after saving the tires a bit and put the mediums on for the last 10 laps. However the recommended fuel was to fill the tank so I had no idea if I could make it the distance. I had been filling about 10L per lap which meant I should be able to make it just. Was going well on the mediums in 4th but panicked about the fuel and pitted with 5 laps left. The recommended fuel said 0...I messed up (not counting the few little spins I had here and there already), so I put in 15 just in case and set off on softs now in 6th. Well beau d/c with 1 lap left and I caught S54 and finished 4th. Found out after the race that scotty had also been on track and was ahead of me so 5th isn't too bad but I am disappointed at my spins. Well done groover and great season guys! Stumbles01 (8th) : Argh, thank god thats over... my worst race to date... got lapped after too many mistakes. Made my last pit stop on lap 33, so had fresher tyres, I caught back up to beau, but didn't want to pass him in case of an accident, I hung back as he had a bit of lag. His last couple of laps were a bit slower than normal and I saw you (groover33) and scotty catching, I almost pulled over to let you both through. Through Beau's mis-fortune, I got unlapped when he disconnected, think I was about 5 seconds ahead of Groover as he won the race...lol Well done smokinscotty, dominating the championship. The only time you finished off the podium was when you weren't there! groover33 takes this round victory, with fastest lap to boot. Congratulations. Well done also to the final podium positions, smokinscotty and slambobagan. That's part 1 over and done with. Stay tuned for part 2. Division 3 Reporter/Photographer: smokinscotty Division 3 Final Positions: Stumbles01 Tables: DRZ-Hatfield
