Chris
Premium
The Oulton Park circuit is tight, filled with elevation changes and laden with destabilising bumps and cambers. If ever a track were to resemble a roller coaster at a theme park, this is it. Overtaking is difficult at best and one single mistake will see you off into one of many race-ending gravel traps located around the circuit. So naturally it was the perfect place to test some of the best Stock Car drivers RaceDepartment has to offer.
Qualifying
With overtaking being such a difficult task, the timing and track position drivers found themselves in would be the most important of the season. Erhan Jajovski and Matheus Machado looked to be keeping their cards close to their chest in practice, but in qualifying they assumed their near-default positions of first and second place with Jajovski being the only driver to break into the 87 second mark. Oli McGown was the star of qualifying with a 1:28.2 as he put in what was far and away his best qualifying session of the season for third place.
Tony Binelli continued his strong form with fourth, while David Armstrong was another driver who sprung a surprise to claim fifth place with a 1:28.4. Thomas Hinss managed to just fend off teammate Davy Vandevenne for sixth place by just four one thousandths of a second. Jamie Pyatt was somewhat disappointed to finish eighth after being able to lap considerably quicker in practice, as Brodie Steen and Mike Bell followed closely behind to round out the top ten.
Race
As the lights went green the two Talking Door Racing cars made fantastic launches and were unpressed into turn one. Davy Vandevenne made a poor start, and was subsequently swamped by several drivers. Further back however, Nick Milton suffered a puncture on the run to the first corner and could not slow his car in time. He collided heavily with Steve Le Gallez which unfortunately resulted in terminal damage for the Guernseyman, ending his race immediately.
Lap two and unfortunately for David Armstrong, his race would be brought to a premature end after being rear-ended by the SmilePower Racing car of Allie Ferrie into turn one. Tony Binelli would also have his race severely hampered after a small moment turned into a hefty collision with the inside barriers of turn one after losing the rear end. He did the best he could to reduce the impact severity, but the slippery grass left him as a passenger, forcing him to repair his car at the next pitstop opportunity.
Bumper-to-bumper: The battle for fifth place was as intense as it gets.
As the field strung out, a five-car battle for fifth place was already shaping up between Thomas Hinss, Brodie Steen, Mike Bell, Davy Vandevenne and Chris Stacey. The gaggle were separated by mere tenths and ran nose-to-tail for several laps, dicing for position on several occasions. Stacey was the first to make a move and with the help of some push-to-pass he overtook both Bell and Steen on the Hilltop straight into Knickerbrook.
Further behind another large group of cars were also jostling closely for position as Shawn Jacobs had a poor run out of Knickerbrook allowing Michael Stead to get along side. The pair went side-by-side through Clay Hill and Water Tower, but on the cleaner racing line, Jacobs was just able to maintain position despite getting a boot full of 'oppo' through Druids. Stead wasn't finished though and attacked again into turn one, but once again, Jacobs' defense proved sturdy as he took the apex away from Stead to stay ahead.
But again, Stead attacked on the Hilltop straight with push-to-pass and claimed two positions in one swift swoop as Jacobs was tucked up behind the Copenhagen Apex car of Gabriel Sterr, to give him 14th position.
Up the front and Jajovski looked to be in control, gradually massaging his lead out to a five seconds over team mate and championship rival, Machado. Oli McGown continued his strong pace and was pressuring Machado very hard over the first stint as the gap remained steady at around one second.
And then there were six: The battle for P5 grew as the fight continued to allow the chasing pack to catch up.
The battle for fifth continued to rage on, this time with Hinss leading the pack and looking like the cork in the bottle. Unfortunately a small lock up at the Shell Oil Hairpin saw him relinquish his lead and drop to the back of the group. Stacey, now the new leader of the group, was unable to pull away, and on the following lap, Bell was able to make the move stick on the exit of Knickerbrook after Stacey had a huge moment, only managing to keep the car on track by the skin of his teeth. This then allowed Davy Vandevenne to close up to the back of Stacey's car, however with no room to pass on the run into Druids he would have to bide his time. The battling group were now slowing each other down, and this allowed Tony Binelli to creep back up to the back of the pack, thus making it a six-way fight.
Undercut engaged: Oli McGown (right) succesfully performs the undercut on Matheus Machado for second place.
Lap seven and this time Vandevenne fancied his chances on the run to Knickerbrook. With the help of push-to-pass, he easily passed Stacey and managed to get ahead of Mike Bell, however he carried too much entry speed and ran wide onto the grass, allowing Bell and Stacey back through. Unfortunately on lap eight, Stacey would suffer the same fate that Jajovski suffered in Queensland with technical problems with his connection, however with his car still present on track, Vandevenne was unable to avoid it and spun at Knickerbrook after making contact with Stacey's "phantom" car.
The first pitstops came on lap 25 as Oli McGown attempted to undercut Machado for second place. A slow pitstop for Machado saw the undercut for McGown become successful as he emerged from the pit lane with a two second gap to the SpeedyMite car of McGown who was now in a net second place.
Confusion in the pits would reign however as Pyatt, Stead and Hinss all came in on the same lap. As Stead set off from his pitbox he accidentally stalled his car right beside Thomas Hinss who was still being serviced. This left Jamie Pyatt nowhere to go as he helplessly had to wait for Stead to restart his car and set off again as the pair lost a significant amount of time. With fuel being critical at this circuit, Brodie Steen did well to extend his first stint to lap 27 and was the last of the front runners to pit after assuming the lead and emerged from the pits in fifth place.
"I'll take that": Machado (left) swoops back into second as the pair would battle closely to the end.
With ten laps remaining, the gloves had come off on the battle for sixth place as Michael Stead, Jamie Pyatt, Mike Bell and Thomas Hinss all scrapped for position. Yet again on the Hilltop straight, Stead made his move on Hinss stick as he looked to chase down Bell who was struggling severely with front locking. Stead made a move into the final corner and managed to make it stick as Bell tried to hang on, but lost the rear end slightly on corner exit, doing very well not to collect Hinss and Pyatt just behind. His poor exit from the final corner allowed Hinss through, however Pyatt would have to wait his turn which came on the following lap down to Knickerbrook. Clearly lacking grip, Bell gradually began to fall back through the group, however with his tyres screaming hot and virtually no rubber left on them, he lost control of the car at Druids, sending him into the barriers and out of the race.
The battle for second place was incredibly tense between McGown and Machado as they were separated by just one second. But on lap 35 Machado was able to close right up to the back of the SpeedyMite car and in a relatively simple move, he took second place with some boost and a good run out of the Shell Oil hairpin, making it a Talking Door 1-2 on track. However, McGown was able to stick with Machado and on lap 44 made a move down the straight to take second place back.
The pair very nearly came to grief with lapped cars, however avoided any incidents. The two drivers were virtually inseparable as Machado made his move to reclaim second on (you guessed it!) the Hilltop straight, but this time for some reason he ran on to the grass before Knickerbrook and in a show of skill, still managed to get the job done and come home in second place to lock in the Talking Door Racing 1-2.
Final Result
As the race came to a close, it was Jajovski who proved to be in a class of one to take his second victory of the season and give himself a much needed championship boost as we approach the final two rounds of the season. And in a great result, Aidan Keranen achieved his first points of the season with 18th place after fulfilling the 75% race distance rule despite not finishing.
Podium Interviews
Erhan Jajovski | Talking Door Racing - 1st Place
Q. Congratulations on taking the win Erhan! You looked to have everything under control out front and more than enough pace to cover off your teammate. How was it from the cockpit?
A. "It was a straight forward race for me. I had a great pace and controlling the race, no drama at all."
Q. With two rounds to go, you're currently 28 points behind Matheus in the race to the championship. He looks to have one hand on the trophy, so what do you need to do in order to have a chance for the final round at Bathurst?
A. "Yeah, he looks awfully close! I had bad luck throughout the season, with the penalty at Melbourne and the disconnection at Queensland, which gave me a great disadvantage. But, I'll do everything that I can and hope for the best."
Matheus Machado | Talking Door Racing - 2nd Place
Q. Well done on taking second place Matheus! It didn't look like you quite had the pace to match your team mate today, but still a very strong result and more points in the bag for the championship. Take us through you time on track.
A. "I decided to play it safe considering the championship lead I had, so I focused on making a good qualifying and a nice race start. Having done those two things, I just needed to bring the car home safely and I did just that. Those cars are really hard to push and taking risks isn't a smart move, since 20 points is a good amount already. I lost about 8 seconds on my pit stop alone by being overly cautious.
"It was a nice surprise to see Oli fighting for the second place though, certainly the battle was a little too close for comfort, but he deployed his push-to-pass boosts at the wrong time and it wasn't as hard as it should be to take second place."
Oli McGown | SpeedyMite Racing - 3rd Place
Q. Congratulations on your first podium of the season Oli! You gave us a hell of a battle with the championship leader and you were incredibly close at the end. Take us through your race!
A. "Thanks! I got a decent start and managed to keep third. I knew that getting past Matheus would be difficult, so for the first part of the race I focused on just putting in good lap times and not letting him get away. I pitted a lap earlier which put me in second, but on fresh tyres Matheus was able to catch and pass me pretty easily. Later on, I was able to catch back up to Matheus and have a nice battle with him for second. I tried everything I could but Matheus kept his well-deserved second place.
"I'm extremely happy with third though - I had a much better race than I've had so far this season. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going into the final two rounds."
Championship Standings
Arguably the toughest track is now behind us, but Brands Hatch and the brutal Bathurst still await. Can Jajovski mount a serious championship challenge, or is it too little too late?
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