HUNSLEY OUTLASTS FOR HOME WIN
Jack Hunsley was fine out in front at Silverstone, without a worry in the world. Well, he might have been worried about a grass fire or something near by late in the race, but no doubt would have been happy in knowing it was only his competitors...
From the start Pablo Diehl looked in all sorts of trouble, a one stop strategy saw him go backwards, but ironically the only person to literally go backwards wasn't the Brazilian, rather rookie Krisztian Lintner was, spinning before hitting the wall hard backwards. On a day where having any Hungarian connections was a serious problem, the two Monster cars both retired with their Mercedes engines sending smoke signals back to Stuttgart soon after. As the race wore on, Tomas Ochlsager got a sore back with a failed suspension, while at the front Hunsley had been joined by French winner Utzer in a battle that quickly became infamous for the backmarkers rather than the frontmarkers. Rob Sharp made a meal of letting his technically-team boss through, losing the German a large portion of time. While Hunsley took the oppotunity for a larger gap, Utzer began his charge again, this time to in fact be aided by Andrea Dovizioso. The Italian was overlaped by Hunsley, after his early race was ruined by hitting the T1 barriers, but not to be discouraged he quickly upped his pace, before making a bold move down the Hangar Straight to unlap himself. In the next half a lap, Hunsley lost 2 seconds to Utzer, before submitting to the German 4 laps later. But while BRT rejoiced in the move, the lead lasted 3 laps before a mistake at the first corner saw Utzer in the gravel, then beached on the curb as he waited an entire lap for a gap. To rub salt in the wound for the German team, Diehl's day finally ended as Utzer was just getting pushed away, the Brazilian in a carbon copy of Lintner's earlier crash.
Just as the crowd was no doubt going wild at this point, the race still had more to offer.
Hearts fell as Rob Sharp's EvoGP-Ferrari gave up the ghost, only to be somewhat buoyed up by the All-Australian 2KF1 team both retiring from strong positions in the points. Rinneaho developed what is believed to have been a loose wheel, having to pit again from second, while Black converted his Viper into a pseudo-motorcycle by shaving off the right hand side of his car on the T1 barriers.
So while Hunsley won, and the Speedy's snatched the podium, further back we saw two Apex's in the points, Brilliant Dimas score a second top ten, and somehow Andrea Dovizioso got 10th.
Through all of that, it comes to the fore that the large retirement list is probably due to the fact that this is the first 100% since Monaco, which is probably harder on Driver rather than vehicle, and only the third ever (Melbourne, Monaco, Silverstone). With such a fundamentally different setup, namely more speed, the engines couldn't handle the distance it seems.
And so, if you watched the race, and read all that, have a
cookie.
RDFIA Press Conference
@Twigster151 In the middle of the race, it didn't seem like it was going to go your way, but did you always believe you would score this win?
@Tim Engberink Second again, but are you annoyed about it, or relieved to be back there?
@Manolis Sigoulakis A double podium, but how happy are you to be on the third step as opposed to higher?
Press Paddock
@Jimlaad43 Were you worried about Jack not winning?
@Lesley Buurlage A great day for Speedy, will we see more improvements?
@Benutzername As a driver: What happened?
@Benutzername As a boss: How did that happen?
@Aidan Keranen So close to a strong finish, any words?
@Dovi design You were up and down through the field like a yo-yo, did you get dizzy with that? But seriously, how did you feel that race went for you?
@Milos Ancevski Our favourite GP4 flamer, finally feeling some loving with that result?
...continued
@kedy89 Thoughts?
Press Release
Due to the lateness of the results, the marketplace will be moved back 11 hours to
9pm (21:00) Thursday AEDT. Simulations will begin shortly afterwards, so make sure
your buys are correct. Be sure also to check your budgets in the opening post, and also after next race I might be nice enough to send out some PM's to those who have failed to make purchases recently.