The green flag finally dropped on the fourth season of the RaceDepartment Grand Prix Championship. 26 drivers took to the tarmac at the home of the British Grand Prix with all of them looking to start their season on the right foot.
Season 4 would see the Australian crowd come to the fore in the European Formula 3 designed by ace modding team Radiator Springs Racing. With Formula 3 being widely recognised as one of the most pure racing categories in the world, the virtual world drivers will ply their trade in these lightweight speed machines for ultimate glory of becoming the RaceDepartment Grand Prix Champion.
This season sees Assetto Corsa pushed to it's limits with an increased number of grid slots to allow for 30-car grids and a much greater racing spectacle. Reigning champion Sun Levi would return for team Talking Door Racing Green with the hopes of yet again stamping his authority on the Assetto Corsa league racing world. Of the 12 Assetto Corsa league races he has participated in here at RaceDepartment, he was won all but two of them, showing stunning pace in both qualifying and the race combined with metronome-like consistency. With a fresh season and a new car, 29 other drivers are looking to finally knock him off his perch.
Qualifying
The drivers would have 20 minutes of qualification to sort themselves out and determine the pecking order of the grid for the first race. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Levi took pole position with a lightning-quick 1:56.7, out-qualifying Tobias Röhner by a mammoth 6 tenths of a second. Stephen Sekhon was a close third going just over a tenth slower than Röhner. While Tobi Kederer and Tony Binelli would both set times good enough for fourth and fifth respectively. Further back, Jeremy Talbot would line up 11th on the grid after a frustrating session in which he was unable to put together three clean sectors.
The cold conditions (5C ambient) meant that the drivers who had a more aggressive setup tended to perform better as the tyre's optimal operating temperature proved difficult to maintain under such conditions.
Ride onboard with Sun Levi as he delivers a near perfect lap when it matters most to take pole position.
Race
As the start lights extinguished and the drivers pegged the throttle pedal, contact at the back of the grid had immediately occurred when, due to a technical fault, the #16 car of Jack Trooper failed to launch. The #69 car of Petteri Ruotsalainen was unable to react quickly enough to avoid the stationary Trooper, making contact and damaging his front wing before even approaching turn one.
Through turn one, all the cars that launched cleanly made it though unscathed. However into turn four, the #22 car of Dan Cosofret misjudged his braking point and tapped TNT Racing's Jeremy Talbot, sending him into a spin and creating a traffic jam of carbon fibre as multiple cars suffered damage after getting caught up in the wreckage.
The calm before the storm.
Down the Wellington straight and Tobi Kederer received a healthy tow from Stephen Sekhon in third place. The pair went side-by-side into Brooklands but Sekhon was able to brake a few metres later, allowing him to maintain position. Tony Binelli also lost his 5th place to Chris Stacey at Brooklands after he also picked up a hefty dose of slipstream. However he would not hold onto 5th place for long as into Becketts the rear end stepped out, sending him into a tank slapper and into the grass relegating him to 18th place. Tobi Kederer would also lose his footing just one corner later allowing Tony Binelli to pick up two places in as many corners for 4th place.
The first lap incidents would mean that many of the lower placed drivers made huge gains with the likes of Sam Hill, Aidan Keranen, Alex Townsend, Nick Milton and Matt Bailey gaining 4, 6, 10, 8 and 12 positions respectively after the first lap.
The battle for second place was now in full swing as Stephen Sekhon had managed to reduce the gap to Tobias Röhner, now being separated by only 1.5 seconds. This battle would continue on for the entirety of the race with the gap fluctuating between 0.5 and 1.5 seconds, however with dirty air playing a role, Sekhon was never able to get into a position to make a pass. With Röhner and Sekhon matching each others pace, Sekhon would have to rely on a mistake from Röhner in order to get by.
Röhner and Sekhon were never separated by more than two seconds for the entire race as Sekhon heaped on the pressure to his German rival.
Further back and the two first lap spinners of Kederer and Stacey were making inspired comebacks as they tried to retake the positions they had lost. In a span of four laps, they had made up 4 and 5 positions to claim 8th and 11th places respectively. Right from the outset, Matheus Machado was applying steady and intense pressure to Jamie Pyatt as they fought for fifth place. Later in the race on Lap 18, Pyatt in the #9 APIA Racing 2 car would drop three places in as many laps as his tyres were giving him all the grip of oiled oak.
Back out in front and Sun Levi was romping away from the chasing pack and making it look easy. By the 12th lap he had opened up a 9 second lead to P2 and was steadily increasing it as he was able to keep his tyres in the optimal temperature window and maintain their life for the duration of the race despite setting 16 of the 20 fastest laps of the race.
The mid-pack was tightly contested from start to finish as the drivers pushed for maximum attack.
Pro Force Racing's Josh Noack and TNT Racing's Alexis Clapano had a heated battle lasting for the majority of the race before Noack was able to make it passed for 16th place on lap 20.
As the chequered flag fell, Sun Levi crossed the line with a 13 second lead over Tobias Röhner with Stephen Sekhon rounding out the podium hot on his heels just 0.7 seconds behind. Tony Binelli was delighted to finish in fourth place after a somewhat lonely but very solid outing, and Matheus Machado rounded out the top 5 after a near race-long battle with Jamie Pyatt. Chris Stacey ended up finishing in the same position that he qualified in (6th), showing strong race pace despite the early spin, however a 5 second post-race time penalty would mean that he would be demoted to 7th behind Tobi Kederer. Once all the post-race adjudication had taken place, Michael Stead finished 8th, Jamie Pyatt in 9th and Edward Rockett rounded out the top 10. With points being scored down to 15th place, Nick Milton was able to round out the points-getters with his first point in a RaceDepartment league after showing steady improvement during the off-season break.
Final Result
In the end, the final result for the top five finishers remained as they crossed the line, however further back, post-race penalties would play a large role as many drivers were given time penalties for excessive abuse of track limits.
Podium Interviews
Sun Levi - 1st Place
Q. Congratulations on winning the opening round of the RDGPC Sun! The finishing gap to P2 and your race pace showed that you had this one in the bag as soon as the lights went out, but was it as easy as you made it look?
A. "Thank you! And yeah, it was the perfect race weekend for me. The main focus was just to go out on track and enjoy the driving, this car/track combination was just so much fun to drive. I was in a good mood during the race so because of that the race didn't feel that difficult.
I'm very pleased with how I performed, loved every second I spent on track. Also congrats to Tobias & Stephen for the podium finish! Looking forward to the next round, Zandvoort is one of my all time favourite track so I hope I'll do well there."
Tobias Röhner - 2nd Place
Q. Second place for you today Tobias, a strong start to the season but the battle for the second spot on the podium was very closely fought between yourself and Stephen. Did you feel you had everything under control?
A. "Second place is definitely the best result I could have gotten after Sun's domination in the pre-season. After qualifying on the front row, I had reasonable confidence for the race, but that went out of the window when the race was about 2-3 laps in because Stephen began to reel me back in after I created a slight cushion of about 2 seconds.
From then on, I was just trying to be as consistent as I could, and not look into my rearview mirrors too much. Luckily for me, Stephen never quite managed to make an overtaking move and I never made any crucial errors. Still, those were some of the most nerve wracking 21 laps in my life!"
Stephen Sekhon - 3rd Place
Q. Congratulations on a good start to the season Stephen, it was a very close race but in the end you were just pipped by Tobias for second place. Was there ever a moment where you felt you could have passed him? Or was overtaking too tricky today with the dirty air?
A. "I was close behind Tobias for the whole race. We had equal pace so I had to wait for him to make a mistake before I could try making a move. His driving was flawless and I didn't get a chance. There was a moment when we were overtaking a lapped car, I got very close and could have tried a move at "Village" corner but it was too risky and I decided to play it safe and wait for another chance which never came.
It was a great race and I was very happy with my result."
Championship Standings
Sun Levi kicked his title defense off to the best possible start taking yet another win, however it was the sister team of Talking Door Racing Red who came away from Silverstone with first place in the constructors championship.
That will do it for Round 1 of the RDGPC. The drivers now turn their attention to the tight, twisty and bumpy Circuit Part Zandvoort for Round 2 in two weeks time.
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