British Racing League 19:30GMT Full Distance Every Day, Everyone welcome to join

Our new season (15) starts on Tuesday 25th September. We have 2 spaces in Elite & 2 spaces in Rookie.

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Season 13 Review – British Racing League – Elite Tier
This was a season of change. EJ Technical Motorsport (EJTM) were victorious again in the drivers Championship, but would lose the constructors to Nomura Lyons Mercedes (NLM). This season also showed that having a good driver isn't enough to win in this league anymore, you will need a good car too.

Australia
Novak took pole for Comic Racers (CR) & 1 second covered the top 10. The top 27 were covered by just 1.9 seconds. Novak led away & by half distance he had a 17 second lead & looked as if he would win easily. Juhno from Reidj Scuderia (RS) & Zerdzinski from EJTM had other ideas & after what appeared to be the final stops, Novak's lead had been reduced to 6.4 seconds with Juhno 2nd & Zerdzinski a further 4.4 behind.

There would be a twist in the tail here, with Novak's team manager realising that he might have to stop again for fuel & at the same point RS brought their drivers in for a splash & dash, dropping Juhno to 3rd. Novak was instructed to back right off in an attempt to make the finish & this allowed Zerdzinski to close on the leader & they were separated by just 1.2 seconds as they started the final lap. Both set their fastest laps of the race on the final lap & Novak managed to hold on.

Scuderia Keijmel (SK) had not managed to score in the last 2 seasons, but here managed a fine 4th place with Holm & 7th for T Klein. Lemon GP had their only points of the season here with Mookjai finishing 8th.

Malaysia
King was on pole for NLM, who's team manager had missed the opening round with technical issues. The 1st 9 were covered by 1 second & the entire grid by 2.6 seconds. King led away until he stopped at the end of lap 8. There were a mixture of 3 & 4 stops here, which on adjusted time had King leading until his 3rd stop at the end of lap 32. He would emerge from the pits in 4th & would stay there until the end.

At halfway, Juhno led by 6 seconds to Chan (RS), then 5.6 to King, 1.0 Smetowski for RJR & 1.4 to Zerdzinski. As the finished their last round of stops, it could not have been closer at the front: Zerdzinski 0.2 Juhno 1.2 Smetowski. These 3 would spend the final 9 laps locked together, never more than 2.2 seconds covering them. Juhno was 0.2 behind Zerdzinski, then it was 0.8, 0.8 again, 0.7, 0.7 again. Juhno looked as if he could pass at any moment. The gap was then 0.2, 0.5, 0.5 & then with 2 laps to go, Juhno set his fastest lap of the race to close to just 0.2 again. Zerdzinski somehow held on & was 1.7 in front at the flag, with Smetowski just 0.5 behind Juhno. A sensational finish.

China
This was a somewhat uneventful affair after the excitement of the opening 2 races. Onishi was on pole for NLM, with 1 second covering the top 14 & just 2.2 covering the entire grid.

When Smetowski stopped for the 1st time, he was already in the lead & would run unchallenged to the flag; winning by 13 seconds. Zerdzinski was a fine 2nd after qualifying only 16th & Onishi was a further 3 seconds back.

Bahrain
Novak took pole, the top 18 were covered by 1 second & the whole grid by 2 seconds. Novak led away & spent much of the race battling with Onishi. As they finished their final stops Novak trailed by 1.1 seconds. It would be another close finish though & the gap started to come down. 1.1, 1.1, 0.9, 0.5. Novak gave it everything, but Onishi was too fast & had 1.1 seconds at the flag, making it 4 races & 4 different winners. King finished 3rd & this gave NLM the lead in the teams championship with 85 points, EJTM were 2nd with 71, then RJR 68, CR 59 & RS 57.

In the drivers title, Zerdzinski had 71, Smetowski 60, Onishi 50, Novak 49 & Juhno 45.

Spain
Castro took pole for RJR, with the top 10 covered by 1 second & the whole grid by 2.1 seconds. Castro led until his 1st stop at the end of lap 6, but would fade & managed only 14th place. Onishi took over the lead & would hold it until the flag winning by 7.5 seconds. Zerdzinski was 3rd after his final stop, behind King, but he was out of kers & Zerdzinski used his to speed passed. He could do nothing about Onishi though & with NLM getting another 1 3 finish it seemed that they were going to mount a serious challenge for the teams prize.

Monaco
Invictus Competition (IC) locked out the front row with Todorov on pole. 1 second covered the top 23 & 2.1 the entire grid. King led after the 1st round of stops, from Castro, Todorov, Smetowski & Mustonen (IC). The IC boys would fade from here sadly, Todorov finishing 8th & Mustonen out of the points.

The order at half way was King, Smetowski, Castro, Ronis for Zero Wing (ZW) & Zerdzinski 12 seconds behind. King looked very impressive at the front, extending his lead & made it look easy. Zerdzinski finished 3.4 seconds behind, but King had backed off long ago; Smetowski finished 3rd.

Turkey
Mustonen took pole & the top 13 were covered by 1 second. King was quickly at the front again & it took just 9 laps for NLM to have 2nd place too. They then drove away from the field having a 9 second advantage before long. Todorov & Zerdzinski battled over 3rd for much of the race, with Zerdzinski managing to pass with 10 laps to go. NLM looked nailed on, but surprisingly had miscalculated their fuel & stopped on the final lap for a splash & dash. Zerdzinski was promoted to 1st & Todorov to 2nd, his best finish of the season. King was 3rd, Onishi 4th but despite this mistake, NLM seemed to have 1 hand on the teams trophy.

The situation looked like this: NLM 189, EJTM 132, RJR 93, RS 83 & CR on 65.
In the drivers title: Zerdzinski 132, Onishi 99, King 90, Smetowski 75 & Juhno 69.

GB
Some say, we don't get Summer in GB, just slightly warmer rain & this caught out about half the field, who had qualified with dry settings. Zerdzinski took the wet pole with 1 second covering just the top 10. Onishi from 2nd was quickly passed but he & King pitted early at the end of lap 7. Todorov who qualified 3rd was determined to stay with Zerdzinski however & managed to pass on lap 18.

The order remained until lap 27 when the rain stopped & shortly after Zerdzinski got back into the lead & began to drive away. The gap back to Todorov was 1 second, then 2.5, then 6.1, 9.6 & 14.9. Todorov pitted for inters on lap 35, but this was a mistake, as others were proving by running slicks. He pitted again shortly after & disappointingly finished only 5th.

NLM had been the 1st to stop for dry tyres on lap 28, with many watching the lap times for an improvement. But it did not come & they circulated about a second slower than they had on the full wets. Indeed several stopped shortly after & were unable to improve on their full wet times. Zerdzinski was lucky here; he had to stop for fuel at the end of lap 36 & decided to give the slicks a go. He had been doing 1 minute 23's & 24's on the full wets & was immediately into the 21's & 20's. Ali from Speedvision moved into 2nd, but could not match Zerdzinskis times & would finish 3rd. Zerdzinski took the win with 23 seconds back to King, who had been 15th during the rain; one of the drives of the season.

Germany
Smetowski was on pole, 1 second covered the top 12 & the whole grid was close again, covered by just 2.4 seconds. After the 1st round of stops, Smetowski led from Onishi, King, Zerdzinski & Castro. Smetowski led until his final stop, but could only manage 4th. Zerdzinski went on to finish 3rd but the story here was about the performance of the NLM pair. The gap was only 13 seconds at the flag, but this 1 2 gave them a significant lead at the top of the teams title & it appeared that no-one had an answer to their speed.

At the half way point in the season the points looked like this:
Teams: NLM 258, EJTM 178, RJR 105, RS 85 & CR 83.
Drivers: Zerdzinski 172, Onishi 132, King 126, Smetowski 87, Juhno 71.

Hungary
Zerdzinski was on pole here, with the top 12 covered by 1 second. This race would be a battle of strategy between Juhno & Zerdzinski, 3 stops versus 4.

Zerdzinski led until his 1st stop on lap 14. Juhno went passed & pitted 4 laps later. Zerdzinski retook the lead until his next stop, when Juhno went passed again. After their final stops, Zerdzinski led by just 0.9 seconds & this would be another thriller. They were never more than 2.5 seconds apart, but Zerdzinski just had the speed to keep Juhno from being close enough to use DRS & this allowed Zerdzinski to take the victory. The gap at the flag was just 1.9 seconds. Chan was 3rd 18 seconds back & Holm for SK finished well again, taking a fine 4th from 20th on the grid.

Europe
Onishi was on pole & just the top 8 were covered by 1 second. These 8 would circulate together initially & after the 1st round of pit stops, they were covered by just 2.8 seconds. The leading 3 then started to pull away; Onishi, King & then Zerdzinski & it was not long before they had a substantial lead. Castro who finished 4th, was 40 seconds behind at the finish.

Onishi & King had around 5 seconds on Zerdzinski for much of the race, but after the final stops he used up his Kers & went passed King. On the next lap he was just 0.8 behind Onishi, but that was as near as he would get & Onishi took the win.

Belgium
Onishi was on pole again here, with just the top 8 covered by 1 second. After the 1st round of stops the order was Smetowski 2.2 Onishi 4.2 Castro 0.1 King 1.7 Zerdzinski. This would be another race of differing strategy, with Smetowski choosing to make 5 stops, whilst the majority of the others were doing just 4. Against the odds, Smetowski was making his strategy work & led for much of the race & even managed to be ahead after his final stop. King was 2nd, Onishi 3rd & Onishi got by with a couple of laps remaining but neither of them could mount a challenge. Smetowski's 5 stop win had to be the drive of the season.

Italy
It was raining here, but that didn't stop 3 of the top teams from qualifying with dry settings. EJTM, NLM & RJR, would all pit at the end of the 1st lap. Juhno took pole for RS, only the top 5 being covered by 1 second.

We had a few races this season which were not just won, but where the winner was annihilating the opposition. This would be the case here, as Juhno, on a 3 stop strategy, led all the way on adjusted time. He was only 7 seconds in front of Ali for Speedvision at the end, but he was managing the gap & took a sublime victory. This was Speedvision's best result of the season, with Cavallero finishing 3rd. Asrai GP (AGP) had their best result of the season here too with Mogul finishing a brilliant 4th. Having been so far behind RJR had a superb race, finishing 9th & 10th, but it was Zerdzinski again who produced a seemingly impossible drive to finish 5th.

With NLM failing to score twice in the last 4 races, you might think that the teams title would be close, but you would be wrong dear reader. When they were scoring, they were scoring heavily & the position looked like this:

Teams: NLM 331, EJTM 257, RJR 175, RS 151 & CR 98.
Drivers: Zerdzinski 237, Onishi 172, King 159, Smetowski 131 & Juhno 116.

Singapore
There would be more annihilation here. King took pole & just the 1st 9 were covered by 1 second. King led every lap bar 4 & Onishi was right behind him. The rest of the field were led by Zerdzinski who managed 3rd, some 17 seconds back. ZW had their best result of the season here with 4th & 5th but they were 45 seconds adrift.

NLM had speed which could not be matched & after 13 consecutive seasons EJTM were going to lose the teams championship to NLM. Zerdzinski's 4th drivers title would be little reward.

Japan
NLM locked out the front row, with Onishi on pole again, his 4th of the season. Just the top 6 were covered by 1 second. After the 1st stops Juhno had passed both the NLM cars, with the order Juhno, Onishi, King, Zerdzinski & Chan. At half distance Juhno still had the lead, 2.4 Onishi 0.4 King 1.2 Chan 1.1 Zerdzinski. Juhno continued to lead & whilst he was only a couple of seconds in front, no-one could make any impression & Juhno took his 2nd win in 3 races. Zerdzinski passed Chan & King at the end to finish 3rd & took his 4th Drivers Title.

Onishi held onto 2nd & with it Nomura Lyons Mercedes took the Team Championship.

Brazil
Onishi took pole again, with the top 10 covered by 1 second. With the title races over, some were experimenting with their strategy whilst others were looking to rack up some victories. Smetowski took the lead on lap 14 & had things nicely under control taking a relatively straightforward win. Zerdzinski managed to close the gap to 2.6 seconds at the end taking 2nd & Juhno continued his excellent end of season form with 3rd.

Abu Dhabi
Juhno took pole & 1 second covered the top 12. Once again some were trying different strategies, but with their depth of experience RS did not need to & took a superb 1 2 some 14 seconds ahead of Zerdzinski in 3rd.

The championships looked like this:
Teams: NLM 426, EJTM 338, RS 260, RJR 218, ZW 123, CR 107.
Drivers: Zerdzinski 300, Onishi 220, King 206, Juhno 189, Smetowski 158.

So, David L had taken just his 3rd championship, but showed that it was quality & not quantity. Zerdzinski from EJTM was still the best driver, but since his training had now been completed, the others were closing the gap. Reidj showed his expertise at the end of the season & hoped to be around for more of the races next season. Richard had taken 3 victories & looked certain to mount a greater challenge. The same could be said of Guilherme who had scored points in all of the last 7 rounds of the season & also of Ben who won the opener so convincingly. Fernando had the expertise to stand on the top step as did David J, who hoped to be around more often. As for the others, well, the general level of performance had gone up considerably & it looked as if someone scoring points would be relegated next season. We were sorry to lose Jos & Andrew to Pro & welcome Adam & Ben.

This league is now 2nd in 100% races by average ranking points & with 6 different winners is one if the most compeitive.

Edwin Smith

We still have 2 places in Rookie & 2 places in Elite. Our new season starts on Tuesday, all welcome.

Season Review? :P I wants to see it, love reading them :P

British Racing League – Elite Tier - Season 14 Review

9 different drivers from 6 different teams would stand on the top step of the podium & there were 9 different pole sitters, but both championships would go to the same team.

Australia
Tambe took pole for Comic Racers (CR) & the top 16 were covered by 1 second. After the 1st round of stops the order was Tambe, Smetowski for Richard Johnstone Racing (RJR), Onishi & King from Questionable Ethics (QE), & Novak from CR.

There were a mix of 3 & 4 stop strategies here & it quickly became apparent that on adjusted time the Lemon GP (LGP) pair of Nguyen & Mookjai were in fact leading. At half distance the order was; Nguyen 2.5seconds, Mookjai 6.3 Zerdzinski for EJ Technical Motorsport, (EJTM) 4.7 Tambe 3.5 King. After the final stops Nguyen still led but King had passed Tambe & Zerdzinski in his 3rd stint & then passed Mookjai in his 4th. It looked as though King was going to mount a serious challenge for the lead.

The order was Nguyen 2.7 King 1.8 Tambe 0.3 Mookjai 1.2 Onishi. With 8 laps to go King had narrowed the gap to 1.7 seconds, but this was as close as he would get & Nguyen took the opening round. Behind King the battle for 3rd raged; Mookjai slid past Tambe on lap 49 & Onishi got by him on lap 55, but Tambe was not finished. With 3 laps to go he sliced passed Onishi & closed rapidly on Mookjai. On the final lap Tambe left Onishi behind a bit & managed to pass Mookjai for the final podium spot, his best result of the season.

Malaysia
Onishi was on pole & the 1st 10 were covered by 1 second. King had qualified 4th, but by the end of lap 4 he was up to 2nd, behind Onishi. After the 1st stops the order was Onishi 0.9 King 0.5 Mookjai 0.4 Nguyen 5.5 Zerdzinski.

The challenge from the LGP pair began to fade in their 2nd stint & they would finish only 6th & 7th. Reidj Scuderia's (RS) pairing of Juhno & Chan were the only leading team to choose 3 stops here & would manage 4th & 5th respectively. The leading 3 were away though; King looked impressive in front & after the final stops he pulled away from the other 2, eventually 4.9 seconds ahead. Onishi & Zerdzinski were separated by 2.1 seconds as they came out, but Zerdzinski had plenty of KERS left & took 2nd.

China
Zerdzinski took pole, with just the top 5 covered by 1 second. After the opening round of pit stops the order was Juhno 1.3 Onishi 3.4 King 0.8 Chan 3.4 Zerdzinski. By half distance Chan had a 7.3 second lead ahead of Juhno, who was 3.8 ahead of Onishi.

In a sensational finish, this race would come down to the final lap. Juhno led after the final stops with Chan 7.1 behind, then 1.9 to Onishi 1.7 King 3.1 Zerdzinski. In sight of the flag, Juhno with a 7 second lead ran out of fuel. Onishi crossed the line 1st, but incredibly Chan entered the pit lane almost out of fuel too, but was still classified 2nd. King who hadn't been on top form in this race inherited 3rd.

Whilst the opening 3 rounds had not been close at the front, we had 3 different drivers on pole & 3 different winners, with the top teams fighting for the minor places.

The championship looked like this:
Drivers: King 58, Onishi 50, Nguyen 39, Zerdzinski 38 & Mookjai 30.
Teams: QE 108, LGP 69, EJTM 43, RS 40 & CR 22.

Bahrain
Novak was on pole, with the top 20 covered by 1 second. Novak pitted early & so the order after the opening round of stops was Chan 7.6 Juhno 0.5 King 2.3 Castro (RJR) 0.8 Onishi. By half way Chan still led but only just with 0.1 back to Cavallero for Speedvision 6.8 Juhno 0.2 King 1.2 Onishi. Chan was on a 5 stopper & Cavallero just 3, but neither were effective, they finished 7th & 4th.

Juhno took over at the front & despite King getting to within 0.2 of a second just prior to the final stops, he finished a somewhat comfortable 3.8 ahead. Onishi was a further 5 seconds back in 3rd. That made it 4 races, 4 different drivers on pole & 4 different winners.

Spain
King took pole for QE, with the 1st 16 covered by 1 second. All the top teams were running a 4 stop strategy here, except QE who would do 5. After the opening stops, King led by 2.9 from Onishi, 2.8 Schmidt for That Slow Team (TST) 0.3 Smetowski 1.1 Ozan for CSMR. At half way, Smetowski & Ozan had been replaced in the top 5 by Zerdzinski & Nguyen.

After the final stops it was Schmidt 1.6 King 1.3 Zerdzinski 2.0 Onishi 3.6 Nguyen. King looked determined now & the gap to Schmidt started to come down; 1.4, 0.5, 0.5, 0.8, 0.6 0.6 0.6. King was all over Schmidt & looked certain to go by. With 2 laps to go the gap was just 0.2, but somehow Schmidt held on for a superb victory; TST's 1st in Elite. Zerdzinski filled the podium, finishing some 2.5 seconds behind.

Freshly promoted from Pro, this brilliant victory for TST was a surprise & it was now 5 different pole sitters & 5 different winners.

Monaco
As usual the grid here was extremely close. 1 second covering the top 22 with Juhno taking pole. QE were off the pace in qualifying, managing only 12th & 21st, their worst of the season.

Almost everyone was doing 4 stops except EJTM & CSMR & they showed that on this day 5 was quicker. The race though was dominated by CSMR, they qualified 2nd & 3rd & it took just 18 laps for Sa to get to 1st, with Ozan close behind. They already had 7 seconds after the 1st round of stops & whilst Zerdzinski turned his 5 stops into 3rd place, he was never able to get anywhere near them. Sa won it, some 7 seconds ahead of Ozan with Zerdzinski a further 20 seconds behind.

Prior to this race CSMR had managed just 4 points & their fantastic 1,2 here surprised many.

This made it 6 different drivers on pole & 6 different winners, but despite their poor showing here, QE were starting to get quite a lead in both championships.

Drivers: King 100, Onishi 79, Zerdzinski 78, Nguyen 59 & Juhno 47.
Teams: QE 179, LGP 105, EJTM 85, RS 82 & CSMR 47.

Turkey
Onishi took pole again with the top 10 covered by 1 second. After the opening stops, Onishi led 4.5 King 0.5 Tambe 2.5 Mookjai 3.8 Zerdzinski. Mostly it was 4 stops, except RS, trying 3 & QE going for 5. RS's 3 stops yielded 3rd for Chan & 5th for Juhno but this race was about the 1st 3.

After their final stops, Mookjai led by just 0.1 & Zerdzinski made it past almost immediately. Onishi was quickly into 3rd & was hounding Mookjai. Mookjai had not given up on the victory though & he was getting closer to Zerdzinski; 0.8, 0.6, 0.4, 0.3. By lap 54 Mookjai had cooked his tyres & began to slide back into the clutches of Onishi. He would survive though, as QE brought both cars in on the final lap for a splash & dash. This dropped Onishi to 10th & King to 13th. Zerdzinski made it 7 races with 7 different winners.

GB
Ozan was the 7th different driver to take pole this season & the top 16 were covered by 1 second. There was a real mix of strategies here, some 3 stops, some 4 & others 5. Ozan made his 5 stops work brilliantly & he led on adjusted time from start to finish. Sa was always close, taking 2nd with King the only real challenger. He led briefly after his 2nd stop, & was 2nd after the final stops, but the pair from CSMR had plenty of speed here & King would finish some 7 seconds behind in 3rd.

This made it an almost unbelievable 7 different pole sitters & 8 different winners.

Germany
Castro took pole, the 8th different pole sitter & the 1st 14 were covered by 1 second. After the 1st round of stops it was Onishi 0.2 Schmidt 1.6 Ozan 0.4 Sa 1.5 Bernius for TST.

Onishi would lead all the way on adjusted time, with a gap of around 3 seconds for most of the way. CSMR were trying 5 stops, which gave them 2nd for Sa & 5th for Ozan. RS filled the podium with Juhno.

At the half way point the championships looked like this:
Drivers: King 121, Onishi & Zerdzinski on 115, Juhno & Nguyen 80.
Teams: QE 236, LGP 154, RS 142, EJTM 126, CSMR 118.

Hungary
King took pole again with 1 second covering the top 14. After the 1st stops King led with 1.2 seconds over Ozan, 0.2 Chan 3.1 Sa 0.9 Juhno.

After the final stops King was still leading, but Juhno was just 1.8 seconds behind. Then it was 6.4 back to Chan with Ozan just 0.3 behind & Sa a further second back. At the front Juhno was closing on King, 1.4, 1.4, 1.5, 1.0, 0.8. King held on though despite being separated by just 0.2 at the flag. Ozan finished 3rd.

Europe
King was on pole & 1 second covered the top 12. Sa passed King almost immediately & would lead for most of the race. Incredibly, he would stop 7 times, relinquishing the lead only briefly in his 3rd stint to King. Sa was only 5.4 seconds ahead at the flag, but he was always in control & won easily.

The race for the other podium places was easy too for the QE pair, King 2nd & Onishi 3rd some 11 seconds ahead of Zerdzinski.

QE had a commanding advantage in the teams title, but the race for 2nd looked close. In the drivers chase, the only remaining question was whether Zerdzinski could challenge King.

Drivers: King 164, Zerdzinski 137, Onishi 136, Juhno 98, Sa 97.
Teams: QE 300, RS 172, CSMR 168, LGP 158, EJTM 150.

Belgium
King was on pole with 1 second covering the top 10. This was another easy victory but this time for QE. King led from start to finish & Onishi was 2nd some 13 seconds ahead of Sa.

With 5 rounds remaining this 1, 2 for QE looked certain to give them the teams title.

Italy
King took his 4th consecutive pole position & the top 14 were covered by 1 second. After the opening round of stops the order was Sa 3.9 King 4.1 Onishi 4.1 Tambe 1.0 Ozan. Sa & King traded the lead throughout, Sa doing 5 stops to King's 4. After the final stops, King led Sa by 5.8 seconds, but Sa was on a charge & the gap began to close. It was 4.5, then 2.9, 2.2, 1.2, 0.9, then with 3 laps to go it came down to just 0.4; could Sa find a way by? No, King held on for his 3rd win in 4 races & he now had a 48 point lead in the drivers title.

With 4 races remaining the points standings looked like this:
Drivers: King 214, Onishi 166, Zerdzinski 149, Sa 130, Juhno 119.
Teams: QE 380, CSMR 223, RS 203, EJTM 163, LGP 160.

Singapore
Onishi took the pole QE's 8th of the season & the 1st 13 were covered by 1 second.

There was a mixture of 4 & 5 stop strategies here but the end result was not close. Chan had qualified 3rd, but was leading prior to his opening stop. By half way, Chan led by 5.7 seconds from his team mate Juhno, then Onishi 2.1 back, 12.6 King & 11.2 Schmidt. Chan was making it look easy in front & he went on to dominate here with Onishi finishing 6 seconds behind in 2nd. Juhno took an easy 3rd for RS, some 18 seconds ahead of King. Chan's victory was the 9th different winner of the season.

In the title race, only Onishi could now beat King in the drivers & this 2, 4 finish for QE gave them the teams championship. The battle was now on for 2nd & those 100 ranking points.

Drivers: King 226, Onishi 184, Zerdzinski 149, Juhno 134, Sa 130.
Teams: QE 410, RS 243, CSMR 223, EJTM 163, LGP 161.

Japan
Ozan took his 2nd pole of the season with 1 second covering the top 15.

Between qualifying & the race it started to rain. Despite the forecast which suggested rain all day, none of the teams had gambled with wet settings in qualifying & so almost everyone pitted at the end of the 1st lap. The chaos in the pit lane affected those with the furthermost pit boxes & the order became quite strung out early on.

After the 2nd stops, King led, 8.4 Onishi 8.3 Zerdzinski 1.6 Laurent for EJTM 6.1 Sa. By half distance King had 10.5 seconds over Onishi & they looked certain for a 1,2 finish. Zerdzinski was a comfortable 3rd, but was already 16 seconds behind, with Castro a further 6 seconds back.

After the final stops King still had an 11 second lead. But behind, Zerdzinski was right with Onishi & went passed on lap 47. The battle commenced; the gap was 0.3, then 0.3 again, 0.3 yet again. Onishi was surely going to make it passed. On lap 51 the gap came down to 0.2 & finally Onishi made it by with just 1 lap to go.

Incredibly, Onishi was light on fuel & having no sooner passed Zerdzinski he pitted for a splash & dash on the final lap. He still finished a comfortable 3rd, with 14 seconds over Castro in 4th.

King's victory for QE gave him the drivers title.

In the battle for second in the teams race, there were still 3 contenders. RS had 253, CSMR 223 & EJTM on 191.

Brazil
Qualifying took place in wet conditions, the only time this season. Ozan took pole with the top 12 covered by 1 second.
The rain persisted & continued throughout the race. After the 1st stops the order was Ozan for CSMR, 4.4 Juhno for RS 4.0 Onishi QE, 0.4 Zerdzinski EJTM & 0.3 King for QE. Juhno made it into the lead on lap 25 & simply drove away. He had a 13 second lead at the end & made it look easy. Behind, Zerdzinski was going well, as he always seems to in the wet & was 2nd some 5 seconds ahead of Chan in 3rd.

This 1,3 finish for Reidj Scuderia gave them 2nd in the teams title.

Abu Dhabi
Sa took pole here, the 9th different pole sitter of the season & 1 second covered the top 13. Ozan made it a CSMR front row, but they were not on the pace here, finishing 6th & 8th. Juhno made it into the lead on lap 6 & would stay in front to the end. Chan made it a 1,2 for RS with Zerdzinski in 3rd some 13 seconds back.

The final standings:
Drivers: King 265, Onishi 211, Zerdzinski 200, Juhno 190, Chan 144.
Teams: QE 476, RS 336, CSMR 251, EJTM 224, LGP 173.

David L took both titles, but with so many different winners, after the British round, both titles were still wide open. From here on though QE dominated taking 5 wins from the next 7 races; 4 of them for King. Reidj showed his class once again, with a particularly strong end to his season. Rufus had a slow start, but came on strong in the middle of the season & who knows what might have happened if he had started scoring earlier. Edwin had by his standards a poor season & looked to do much better next time. Jukka made good use of his advanced car design at the beginning of the season & these 5 teams finished 100 points clear of the others.

Adam won a race & we know that there are others who can do so too; Richard, Fernando & Mark. With so many competing at the front, this was our most competitive season yet.

We said goodbye to some friends along the way, Guillherme, David J & most notably Ben G who did a great job as our league manager. We hoped to see them again soon.

Edwin Smith

Fantastic read :D

Hello Edwin,

Thanks a lot for your season review. I look forward next season where it should be more competitive with Rufus and David going at each other.
Unfortunately I will not be a challenger next season because of time constraints so I will do my best to score some points from time to time.
As always my goal will be to win when I am present.

See you next season guys.

There is still time for you to join before the season starts in a few hours. There are 2 places in elite & 3 places in rookie.

We still have 2 places in Rookie & 2 in Elite

& now we have 3 spaces in Rookie & 2 in Elite

2 spaces available in Elite, 1 in Pro & 1 in Rookie

& we have 2 places in Elite & 1 in Pro

We now have 2 places in Pro & 2 in Elite

2 places in Elite & 1 in Pro. All welcome

Our new season starts on Sunday & we have places in all tiers.

I have a free month on iracing which I don't have time to use. If you would like it just let me know.

Our new season starts on Sunday @ 19.30 gmt.

We have 3 places in Elite, 1 place in Pro & 2 in Rookie.

British Racing League – Elite Tier - Season 15 Review

This was a season of changing fortunes. Back in season 13 I said that it was not enough to have a good driver, you would need a good car too. Well, things have moved on. You will now need a good car, 2 good drivers & you will need to be consistent.

Australia
King, for Questionable Ethics, (QE) started where he left off from last season with pole & the top 16 were covered by 1 second. This race would be dominated by 2 drivers, leaving the rest to fight over 3rd.

After the 1st round of stops, Sa from CSMR led van Helvoort, Team Kakashi, (TK) by 1.3 seconds. The others were still close early on, led by Chan, Reidj Scuderia (RS), 1.2 behind van Helvoort, then 1.3 to Juhno RS & 1.5 Smetowski, Richard Johnstone Racing (RJR). Incredibly King was 16th at this point & would go on to finish a disappointing 14th.

Sa & van Helvoort were locked together, never more than 1.9 seconds between them. By half distance the order was Sa 0.5 van Helvoort 3.4 Chan 2.3 Juhno 7.0 Ozan, CSMR. On lap 35 van Helvoort made it passed Sa & began to pull away; just a tenth here & there, but enough to make a difference. By the time of the final stops the gap was 2.5 seconds & van Helvoort duly took the victory, extending the gap to 3.5 seconds at the finish. Behind them the battle for 3rd raged.

After the final stops on lap 51, Smetowski, had moved into 3rd with Chan & Ozan right behind. With 4 laps to go, Ozan made it by Chan but on the next lap Chan got 4th back. The 3 of them circulated within 2 seconds of each other, all looking as though they could make 3rd. Smetowski held on though & Ozan slid passed Chan on the last lap.

Malaysia
Van Helvoort took pole with the 1st 10 covered by 1 second. Sa took the lead almost immediately, but it was short lived & van Helvoort took it back on lap 5. After the opening pit stops on lap 15 it was Castro (RJR) 6.8 van Helvoort 1.9 Sa 1.5 Ozan 0.5 King. Castro however was doing 1 stop more than the other leading cars & on adjusted time was mid-field.

Van Helvoort simply drove away from the others in the 2nd half of this race & finished with a 12 second lead. Behind him, after the final stops the order was Ozan 0.4 Sa 0.8 Castro 1.0 Zerdzinski, EJ Technical Motorsport (EJTM). Castro quickly passed Sa, but could do nothing about Ozan. Zerdzinski also made it by Sa with 2 laps to go & that was the finishing order.

In contrast with the last 2 seasons the same driver had won the opening 2 races & King, who won the drivers title last season & helped his team to the constructors title, was off the pace & had failed to score.

China
Ozan was on pole & just the 1st 9 were covered by 1 second. After the opening stops Ozan still led by 1.5 to Zerdzinski 1.1 van Helvoort 1.8 Castro 0.9 King. On lap 16 Ozan lost the lead to Zerdzinski, but he was doing 1 stop more & would finish 3rd. Behind him, Sa got to within 8 tenths by the finish, but was never close enough to challenge. Behind Sa came the RJR pair, Castro just ahead. So what of the top 2? Well, van Helvoort was on another level & made it 3 from 3, with Ozan 9.2 seconds back.

Bahrain
Eltsov was on pole with van Helvoort making it an all TK front row & the top 10 were covered by 1 second. It took until lap 14 for van Helvoort to pass his team mate, but once through, he was again much quicker than anyone else. At the end he had a 24 second advantage & despite having won just 10 races in his short career there were whispers in the paddock that this season might be over already.

After the 1st stops the order was van Helvoort 2.9 Eltsov 1.4 Zerdzinski 0.6 Ozan 1.6 Sa. At half distance not only was the pack unable to cope with van Helvoort's speed, they could not keep up with Eltsov either. The order was van Helvoort 6.7 Eltsov 2.6 Ozan 0.7 Zerdzinski 0.7 Sa.

After the final stops the order was van Helvoort 21.4 Eltsov 3.4 Ozan 1.3 Castro 1.0 Zerdzinski. Sa made it passed Zerdzinski with 2 laps to go & that sealed the order.

The points standings:
Drivers: van Helvoort 100, Ozan 63, Sa 50, Castro 43, Zerdzinski 35.
Teams: TK 130, CSMR 113, RJR 76, EJTM 35, RS 25.

Spain
Qualifying took place in the rain with half the field still on dry settings, this included both TK cars. King was on pole again, hoping for better fortune & only the 1st 6 were covered by 1 second.

After the opening stops the order was King 1.3 Zerdzinski 2.8 Onishi for QE, 2.0 Bernius for That Slow Team (TST) & 1.1 Schmidt also TST. By halfway, lap 33, Zerdzinski was showing his class in the wet again & the order was Zerdzinski 16.7 King 0.8 Castro 2.0 Bernius 1.1 Schmidt.

After what seemed to be the final stops on lap 56 the order was, Zerdzinski 10.8 King 5.5 Onishi 0.8 Bernius 0.1 Castro. QE looked as if they were going to start their season here with 2nd & 3rd, but no, they pitted again on lap 59 & would finish 6th & 8th. Castro passed Bernius on lap 60 to finish some 13 seconds behind Zerdzinski & Ozan passed King with 2 laps to go to finish 5th.

TST seem to like it here in Spain. They took their maiden Elite victory here last season & their excellent 3rd & 4th were signs of greater promise.

Monaco
Chan was on pole & the 1st 13 were covered by 1 second. Van Helvoort & Eltsov could manage only 21st & 22nd. Chan led away & after the 1st stops the order was: Chan 4.4 King 1.7 Sa 1.3 Ozan 1.3 Zerdzinski. There were a variety of strategies being employed here, some doing 4 stops, some 5. At halfway on lap 39, Chan had a commanding lead, 19.4 seconds ahead of King, 4.3 Sa 1.1 Ozan 2.3 Castro. This order would remain until the end, with Chan finishing 11.6 seconds ahead of King taking RS's 50th victory. Incredibly this would be King's best result of the season.

This was TST's 100th race, the least experienced team in Elite & they celebrated with more points finishing 8th & 9th.

Turkey
Zerdzinski took pole with 1 second covering just the 1st 8. On lap 15, with some still to pit & others having stopped twice already, the order was Zerdzinski 4.1 Holm for Scuderia Keijmel (SK), 4.1 Smetowski 0.3 Castro 4.3 Klein for SK. At half distance on lap 29, there were some large gaps emerging; Zerdzinski 5.9 Smetowski 1.9 Castro 14.7 Holm 9.2 Nguyen from Lemon GP (LGP).

Smetowski started to close on Zerdzinski, on lap 32 the gap had already come down to 2.7 seconds. 3 laps later the gap was just 1.9, then 1.3, 1.2, 1.0, 0.7 & he wasted no time at all scything passed at his 1st opportunity on lap 40. After the final stops on lap 50, the order was Smetowski 0.8 Zerdzinski 2.1 Castro 27.7 Holm 5.1 Nguyen & so the race came down to the leading pair with 8 laps to go.

Given how quickly Smetowski caught Zerdzinski earlier in the race, you might have expected him to pull away now, but Zerdzinski had other plans & used up his KERS to be right on Smetowski's tail. On the next lap, 52, he got the gap down to 0.9 & made a bid to pass in the DRS zone, but Smetowski held him off. Zerdzinski dropped back a little, cooling his tyres for one last attempt. It came on lap 57, when he again tried to pass again in the drs zone, but Smetowski would not allow it, Zerdzinski's tyres were fried & the order sealed. Castro was just 3 seconds behind at the flag, with Holm & Nguyen a distant 4th & 5th.

The points standings:
Drivers: van Helvoort 100, Castro 86, Zerdzinski 86, Ozan 85, Sa 71.
Teams: CSMR 156, RJR 152,TK 130, EJTM 91, RS 51.

GB
It had been raining (as usual) prior to qualifying, & some were therefore on wet settings. However, it stopped raining before the session started, leaving the track quite wet, catching out many & producing some surprises.

Bernius on wets took TST's 1st Elite pole by more than half a second & the 1st 9 were covered by 1 second. The 1st person on slicks was Fuchs for Williams F1 (WF1) in 15th. Of the leading teams, TK & RS started on slicks. Many stopped for dry tyres at the end of the 1st lap & some stopped again the next lap after some system issues. On lap 4 the order was, Chan 1.0 Fuchs 2.6 Eltsov 1.2 Mookjai for LGP, 0.7 Holm.

After the opening pit stops on lap 16 the order was Eltsov 0.3 Bernius 0.2 Kowalski for WF1, 0.7 Holm 0.9 Mookjai. Holm looked good here & cut his way to the front by lap 21. At halfway he led by 5.1 to Mookjai 0.3 Bernius 0.3 Kowalski 3.3 Klein. By the final stops he had extended his lead to 10.6 seconds & went on to take his 1st ever victory. Behind, the order was much the same, Mookjai 1.7 Klein 1.2 Nguyen 1.9 Fuchs & that was the finishing places, except for Fuchs who sadly fell to 8th in his 150th start.

Onishi had one of the drives of the season here, starting with a pit stop to get slicks & finishing 9th. However, he was eclipsed by Zerdzinski who had to stop twice at the start for slicks & eventually came through to finish 5th

Germany
In some 10 months of play, this was without doubt the most extraordinary race I have seen; a privilege to watch the twists & turns. If you needed proof that sometimes this wonderful game of ours needed persistence in addition to enthusiasm, it was right here, on a rainy afternoon in Germany. Yes the weather played a part, but this is why we play this game.

Qualifying was wet but just 3 teams had wet settings; TST, Sparks McLaren GP (SM) & EJTM. Unsurprisingly they filled the 1st 3 rows with Zerdzinski on pole. King headed those on slicks some 16 seconds behind. Zerdzinski loves the wet conditions & when he stopped on lap 10, he was already 14 seconds in front. The order after the opening stops, was Zerdzinski 13.6 Bernius 2.2 Schmidt 7.7 Becker for EJTM, 9.3 Berzins SM. RJR were leading the runners who started on slicks & was 1 minute 25 seconds behind. Many other managers would have left at this point, but Richard remained.

TST were doing 1 stop less than EJTM & so the order at halfway on lap 30 was Zerdzinski 9.9 Bernius 1.4 Schmidt 31.1 Becker 19.1 Berzins. Smetowski still led the slick starters but he was now 1 minute 31 seconds behind. Still Richard watched. The rain stopped on lap 44 & the order was Zerdzinski 11.2 Bernius 0.9 Schmidt 53 Becker 13 Berzins 10 Smetowski 4 Castro. When to stop for slicks?

TST stopped immediately & all eyes were on their lap times. Sadly they lapped some 13 or 14 seconds slower & the decision to stop again was made for them, when on lap 49 the weather feed showed it would rain again. They both stopped on lap 51 & chose inters. This was a difficult decision to make. The track had been drying for 6 laps & with just 10 laps to go they did not want to stop again. Based on the information they had, inters were probably the right choice.

RJR stopped earlier on lap 49, they chose wets. Had Richard not been watching, they would certainly have taken slicks & may have struggled to hold position. He had chosen to persist.

The crucial moment came for EJTM. Due in on lap 50, they too were unsure which tyres to fit. Zerdzinski was 1 minute 26 seconds ahead of Bernius in 3rd & surely, it didn't matter which tyres they chose but they were taking a long time to decide....

Becker was 2nd after the TST boys had stopped. If they were unsure, copy TST. At least that would cover any threat. Still they considered.......

They dithered.

I dithered.

I dithered so much, that by the time the choice was made, Zerdzinski had passed the pit entry. He had around a litre of fuel left & stopped 3 corners into the next lap. They (I) snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. In 166 starts, this was Zerdzinski's 1st retirement.

Unbelievable.

Becker found himself in the lead; he had taken inters. The order on lap 51 was Becker 12.4 Bernius 2.2 Schmidt 8.0 Smetowski 4.6 Castro. The leading 3 on their inters were lapping in the 33's & 34's. Smetowski on his wets, in the pouring rain, began to catch them.

On lap 52 Smetowski was 7.6 behind Schmidt, on lap 53 it was 5.7, then it was 1.6. On lap 55 he passed Schmidt & on the next passed Bernius. With 5 laps to go, he was now 15.4 behind Becker.

He couldn't, could he? He was 1 minute 44 seconds behind at one point. Surely not?

On lap 57 the gap was 8.9, then it was just 1.8. On the penultimate lap he went passed Becker as though he was standing still. Castro was right behind & he demoted Becker to 3rd. At the end the order was Smetowski 3.5 Castro 9.8 Becker 31.1 Bernius 1.5 Schmidt. Onishi was a superb 6th some 15 seconds further back.

He did. Unbelievable.

This was RJR's 50th victory. What a way to celebrate it.

The points standings:
Drivers: Castro 104, van Helvoort 100, Zerdzinski 96, Smetowski 91, Ozan 85.
Teams: RJR 195, CSMR 156, TK 138, EJTM 116, RS 61.

Hungary
Zerdzinski took pole. I think he was a little angry. 1 second covered the 1st 11.

This was a much simpler affair, with Zerdzinski leading from lights to flag. Castro qualified 2nd & was 2nd throughout. Behind them Sa fought with Smetowski who finished 3rd & Ozan followed his team mate home for 5th.

Europe
Ozan was on pole with 1 second covering just the top 7. There were a variety of strategies being employed here, ranging from 3 to 7 stops.

After the opening round of stops Zerdzinski led having started 3rd, with just 0.1 to Ozan 1.0 Smetowski 4.7 Castro 5.4 Bernius. The mid part of this race was rather confused, with all the different strategies it was difficult to see how they would pan out.

After the final stops the order was Zerdzinski 12.1 Castro 0.5 Smetowski 1.9 Ozan 21.9 Bernius & this would be the finishing order. This was CSMR's 250th race & they celebrated with 4th & 7th. It was Clark's 50th start having replaced Klein at SK & he celebrated it with a point in 10th place.

Belgium
Have you ever had that feeling of deja vu? Something was changed.

System problems intervened here & sadly the data from our 1st attempt was lost. I can tell you that Castro won, with Zerdzinski 2nd Smetowski 3rd, Schmidt 4th.

When it mattered however, King took pole & Onishi locked out the front row for QE. Just the 1st 9 were covered by 1 second. After the 1st stops Smetowski led with 1.7 seconds to Castro then 1.0 Zerdzinski 4.1 Ozan 6.3 King. After the 2nd round of stops the order was quite similar, Smetowski 2.4 Castro 1.0 Zerdzinski 7.8 Ozan 0.1 Holm.

By halfway Zerdzinski was pulling away. The order was Zerdzinski 8.8 Ozan 4.1 Smetowski 3.1 Castro 8.6 King. After what appeared to be the final stops the order was Zerdzinski 12.4 Smetowski 4.2 Castro 3.8 Ozan 1.5 Holm. RJR had miscalculated their fuel though & stopped for a splash & dash on the final lap. The final order was Zerdzinski 21.9 Ozan 4.4 Smetowski 4.7 King 0.1 Castro.

The points:
Drivers: Zerdzinski 171, Castro 150, Smetowski 136, Ozan 125, van Helvoort 100.
Teams: RJR 286, CSMR 220, EJTM 194, TK 138, TST 107.

Italy
Qualifying was held in the rain again, with about a third of the field using dry settings. These included CSMR, QE & TK. Zerdzinski took the pole, which surprised nobody & the top 9 were covered by 1 second. After the 1st round of pit stops Zerdzinski led 13.1 seconds ahead of Smetowski, then 0.2 Castro 2.8 Schmidt 1.1 Bernius. On lap 26 it stopped raining & the order at that point was Zerdzinski 21.4 Smetowski 0.2 Castro 1.3 Schmidt 2.4 Mookjai. Zerdzinski had to stop at the end of that lap & in an effort not to dither....he chose to continue on the wets.

Of the front runners once again it was TST who brought their drivers in for slicks 1st on lap 26. They had been doing 21's but the track was still wet & on the softs, the best they could do was a 1 minute 24 second lap. RJR decided to stop on lap 32, but they too lapped slower than before. EJTM waited until lap 35, despite doing 2 or 3 quite slow laps & whilst he too lapped slower on the slicks, they were fast enough to continue extending his lead. After the final stops the order was Zerdzinski 24 Smetowski 1.1 Castro 25.2 Becker 9 Todorov for Invictus Competition (IC) & those were the final placings. That 5th was IC's 1st points of the season & Rossi in 6th scored the 1st points for Atomic GP F1 (AGP).

It was looking like a 3 way battle for the drivers title & that 2,3 finish for RJR put them ever closer to the teams.

Singapore
Juhno was on pole & 1 second covered the top 14. After the opening stops on lap 14 the order was Juhno 1.9 Chan 1.6 Zerdzinski 1.2 King 3.4 Onishi. At halfway King led by just 0.6 Juhno 0.9 Chan 3.1 Onishi 0.2 Smetowski. After the final stops Zerdzinski was in the lead again, with 5.9 seconds back to Smetowski, then King a further 4.1 back, then 2.6 to Castro & 4.0 Juhno. King fell back towards the end allowing the order behind Smetowski to move up, with Chan in 5th.

This was RS's 250th start, SM's 150th, Mookjai's 150th & Berzins 150th

The points:
Drivers: Zerdzinski 221, Castro 183, Smetowski 169, Ozan 125, van Helvoort 100.
Teams: RJR 352, EJTM 256, CSMR 220, TK 138, TST 124.

Japan
Onishi took pole, QE's 50th & King locked out the front row for them. The 1st 11 were covered by 1 second. Zerdzinski started 3rd but by the end of the 1st lap, he was into the lead, & on adjusted time he led the whole way. The events of Germany were forgotten as his 50th win gave him his 5th drivers championship.

RJR qualified 5th & 6th, but they knew the title was almost theirs & 4th & 6th place finishes were more than enough. It was their 5th team championship, their 1st in this league. This title pushed Richard into the top 20 ranked players.

RS were having a strong end to their season & they took a great 2,3 here, their best result of the season. IC have been in this league longer than anyone & this was their 250th start.

Brazil
Qualifying decided the race. Smetowski was on pole & he roared off into the distance. Zerdzinski qualified 3rd behind Ozan & it took him until lap 11 to get passed. Smetowski was already 7.9 seconds ahead now & whilst Zerdzinski did get closer, he was never close enough & Smetowski led from lights to flag. Castro followed his team mate home getting passed Zerdzinski on lap 29. At the end those 3 were 24 seconds clear, with Nguyen 7 seconds behind Ozan in 4th.

Abu Dhabi
Castro took pole his 1st of the season. Chan & Juhno were 2nd & 3rd & these 3 would fight for the win. Chan passed Castro on lap 37 & would go on to take the victory some 5 seconds ahead. Juhno was 3rd with Zerdzinski 4th & Smetowski 5th. Castro's 2nd place was his 7th of the season & he finished 2nd in the drivers title without winning a race.

The final points standings looked like this:
Drivers: Zerdzinski 273, Castro 231, Smetowski 212, Ozan 137, van Helvoort 100.
Teams: RJR 443, EJTM 308, CSMR 232, RS 157, TST 145.

Consistency was the key to the season. On their way to the title RJR scored in every race except 1 & so did Zerdzinski in the drivers title. TK & CSMR could have fought for the championships but they were inconsistent TK scoring in just 5 rounds & CSMR in 10. Reidj (RS) proved once again that if he had more time he could challenge for victory & when he was able to attend his cars ran at or near the front. Adam (TST) had been consistent, failing to score just 3 times & perhaps next season he could be challenging for wins. QE had a poor season. They were almost unstoppable last season & surely they would be much more competitive in the next.

We said goodbye to Andrew this season & hoped to see him again soon. We welcome Martyn & Thomas promoted from Pro.

Edwin Smith

Our new season starts soon, so it's not too late to join us. There are places in all tiers.

We have 1 place in Elite & 4 places in Rookie