Professional Documents
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Wookie Pete takes first win – Warring Ferrari’s dominate race – Strong
showing by Maverick - Vanquish & Gixerben in support Championship
leads – Lancer in support success – Nightmare for last season’s top two –
Scrutinisers kept busy.
PETER PERFECT – Wookie made up for a bad start with a dominate win.
ENTRY
JC wasn’t having much fun with the rulebook, his FTCC car falling foul of
the scruntiners on its drive train and a change from his Subaru to a
rumoured deal with Dodge failing to come off at the last minute. His
Subaru to make matters worse was running at 690PI
Major Raver – Alfa Romeo MiTo, BMW 135i, Ford RS200 – Meeting
Rating 5
New sponsorship showed on all three of the Rzyak racing cars, and
although the Renault was still short of straight-line speed the team was
confident of a strong meeting due to upgrades to its other cars and a
710PI for the Ferrari.
Lancer was another who had, had a peaceful week, a bit of testing hoping
to unlock some speed from all three cars.
Enduro leader Vanquish was missing 30PI on his Muira but was sporting a
4wd system on his Scion that left protests flying in. The Scrutinisers
passed the car legal for the meeting but it later fall foul of the governing
body and is banned from now on.
New Alfa deal for Wise in its early days, car lack of development meant
the car looked a handful in the bends but quick in a straight-line,
especially with the extra 20PI allowed. No major updates or work had
been seen on the other two cars although rumours of both being binned
before the next round circled the paddock.
Wookie Pete – Renault Twingo, Mugen Civic, Ferrari 360 CS -
Meeting Rating 8
Lap 2 and reigning Champion JC was really in the wars, as his car was
struggling to go around corners dropping him to 7th which became
retirement on the 4th lap, with a tumble on to his roof. Such was the
damage that Subaru refused to re-fire up and it left JC with an early flight
out the circuit and the Subaru heading to the nearest scrap yard never to
be seen again. Major Raver was another with an early, bath, having
already had two rolls early on now the very battered and unpretty Ford
rolled for a third time at the same place as JC on lap 21 and this time it
cried enough as he was left with a destroyed suspension, dead engine and
no brakes and a retirement. It was a total nightmare for the pair and left
them wondering if their championship challenge is already over after two
rounds!
Out front and Wookie had been setting lap after lap of fastest laps looking
comfortable, where as the second Ferrari was going well behind him but
seemed more of an handful and was having a few offs. Pete stopped on
lap 15 and the quick stop left him rejoining at the same time as Maverick
came down the pit straight, the two Ferrari’s making contact, the Subway
version hitting the back of the Blockbuster one as it under steered wide on
the entry in to the corner. Both blamed the other, the stewards though
seeing it as a racing accident, both spinning but Maverick rejoining the
quicker set off in the lead, whilst Wookie set off with a bit of body work
damage and knowing that he had a pitstop in hand over his only rival.
Vanquish lined up on pole with Raver alongside, but any hopes of the coca cola car
taking the lead were quickly forgotten as Vanquish unleashed his 4 wheel drive to great
effect and stormed into the lead, a lead he was never to lose or even be challenged for.
He had nearly two seconds in hand by the end of the first lap and he shot away to a win
that not even the stewards could rob him off. Behind him Raver remained in second, the
little Alfa proving to be a real handle, but he managed to keep back first championship
leader Gixerben, and then on the last lap Lancer who had driven brilliantly from the back
for third, rueing that the flag came out one lap early for him. Gixerben kept fourth, but in
truth everyone from 3rd back were having a right out battle, with Maverick well and truly
in the mix in most it, swapping paint with half of the grid especially round 1 rival JC
Meister, leaving Wookie with 5th in the Renault. For Wise it was a disappointing run to 8th,
complaing of poor handling in the Mini Cooper and leaving him looking forward to the
fast sweeps of Road Atlanta.
1. Vanquish
2. Major Raver
3. ScoLancer
4. Gixerben
5. Wookie Pete
6. Maverick
7. JC Meister
8. Wiseoldduck
Rear wheel drive was expected to be the thing to have off the line here,
but the Mugen hordes superior corning made for an interesting start to
round 2 of the FTCC. Raver managed to put one up for Munich in his pink
BMW leading Lancer and Vanquish in the Japanese cars, but Major was
struggling to get heat in to his tyres and it wasn't long before Lancer was
through, followed by Vanquish. Maverick was also flying in his Integra and
looking to make it 1-2-3 for Honda, doing so on lap 2 when he and Pete
made it past Gixer. Maverick was now flying and catching the front two
but on the run down the hill to the last corner he got it all wrong landing it
on his roof and out of the race, for the Autumn Cup winner the curse of
winning that trophy continued (No autumn Cup winner has ever won a
championship round) as he hit the Integra badly damaging his car, Gixer
maged just to avoid the chaos as did the rest of the pack. Gix was up to
second, Vanquish having his own mishap a lap earlier, but that became
third as JC was on the charge, the reigning champ and his faithful old
Corrado finally showing some promise. Promise it had but Lancer was
long gone and reeled off the laps for his first victory, JC overjoyed with
second. Gixer was safe in second, Raver closing over the last lap as his
tyres finally warmed up, but admitting afterwards that the BMW 135i
needs serious setup work and testing. Wise was 5th, the car not handling
well and having a few offs, but showing good straight line speed, whilst
Vanquish led home the 3 drivers who fought for the lead early on but
ended up very much in the wars.
1. ScoLancer
2. JC Meister
3. Gixerben
4. Major Raver
5. Wiseoldduck
6. Vanquish
7. Wookie Pete
8. Maverick
ROUND-UP
The Enduro looks intriguing for Road Atlanta, with Wookie, Vanquish and
Gixerben all on 670PI and last year’s top two Major Raver and JC Meister
possibly in new cars with a PI of 710. Will Maverick take his positive form
in to solid results in the support races, and expect the power of the Mini
and BMW engines to put Gixerben to the fore in the support races. Round
3 promise plenty of action and spills and another round of different
winners.