Australian iGP Series

Season Standings


LEAGUE UPDATE & QUESTIONS
Hi Guys,
This is to everyone i'm just looking for some feedback on the current season and hopefully clear up a few things as well.

Last season was fantastic (thanks for the ASS Scott) with some very close racing as we stumbled over each other not knowing what we were doing or how to do it. As we all started from scratch things were fairly even and we were very very lucky that the entire field was on their first season. Now we are in the pro tier things have changed a little bit.
1) We don’t have as many managers
2) There is a big difference between some teams
3) Some managers are now more “experienced”
4) There has only been 2 teams winning

Number 1) I thank you all for being active managers. We had 4 managers promoted last season and we still have 4 active managers this season. I can tell you that is VERY VERY rare from the other leagues I have seen and been a part of. So thank you Jim, Brett & Scott.

We should see the guys from last season still in rookies Brendan, Gene, Drew join us in pro next season plus a guy called Todd who is smashing it. He won the first race by +1 lap and the 2nd race by +2 laps ! So I expect next season we will have a nice big field plus a bunch of active managers for pro tier. A quick note to the rookie teams T.i.R.E. News will depart at the final race to give the maximum number of teams promotion to the pro tier but for now Todd needs to be kept from a clean sweep of the season..hahaha Plus it is also much easier for me to do our race reports and update the poll questions.

Number 2-3-4) I will cover as one as it is really one point. As all of you know I have 3 teams running in our tier. Scott had 2 (DPG has now left). So the 3 “new” teams that joined us Polar Motorsport, MC Racing were both mine and Star Racing was Scotts with the much talked about ASO. These 3 teams were all on their 3rd season all had KERS and all had +lvl 8 drivers with ASO starting the season as favorite given he was already a lvl 9 driver. So there was always going to be a split with these 3 “A teams” who should be filling the first 6 places and our other 4 “B teams” fighting over the last 4 points paying positions.

However Star Racing had a tough start to the season and only picked up a few points in the first 4 races but is starting to show their true pace and now with a new driver might even be on the podium in the next couple of races. Orange has been the best of the “B Teams” and in the points most every race and this makes the final few points hard to come by. But it has been great to watch the battle for the lower positions (as P Klein steals positions away from M Kulaviir in the last few laps..hahaha) it has been far more entertaining than the race up front. I just want to ensure you are all still enjoying the season and if there is anything you all would like to see added, removed and changed with our league.

I have my Polar & MC teams here in our league because 1) I no longer have the time or desire to run them in an everyday league as I have done previously. 2) its too hard running 7 teams in 5 leagues all at once so I have 4 here (3 pro 1 rookie) and the other 3 are no longer active for now. 3) I am still testing and running different setups and training tactics with each driver to see what works with Polar & MC 4) it gives us more prize money and better xp.

I know it sounds strange but you get more prize money for finishing 7th in a field of 14 than winning in a field of 4 (see below) Also as you can see I get a xp gain for 7th in our league where as I lose xp for finishing 1st & 2nd in my other league! I don't want you guys to feel the top teams are stealing xp or prize money away from you. If your race objective is currently to finish 7th for $700k and we kick just the top 2 teams your objective would now be to finish 3rd for $300k as there would be 4 less drivers. Even worse if the top 3 teams go you now need to finish 1st for maybe $200k! It’s the same with the XP gain and loss as the top 3 teams have a high XP it raises the avg XP for all managers. Thus you lose less for a bad race because you’re racing better teams and get an even bigger gain when you do well.

Now that everyone has KERS (Orange Lizards will be waiting one more race for Jim before they get KERS) you will find Money won’t be much of a problem moving forward and your balance will really start to grow each and every race as you should be making 2-6 mill per race. I would like to think we have an open and helpful culture in our league. Everyone joins in the race chant/banter and there has been plenty of PM’s between everyone and if asked a question I have given a straight answer and even placed a few hidden hints & tips in the race recaps. I am not ever going to give a step by step guide of “How to” as I don’t know how and why most of it works but for what I do know I am happy to share. I have rage quite more than a few times (Scott has been witness to that as the frustration has boiled over many a time) but I really want good close racing. It does not matter if it is for 3rd or 10th as long as I can beat my rival whoever he is more then he can beat me …lol

So the question is, are you happy for the top 3 A teams to remain?
If so is there anything we can change for this season to make it better?
What do you want to see for next season? (maybe a lvl cap for teams)
I presume you all still enjoy the race reports? is there something you would like added or removed?
Scott had set up a “ teamSpeak” voice chat channel last season should we do it again?
Reward Points were offered to attract more teams …do you want to keep them next season?
The league is here because of you guys so let’s make it how you want  let me know 

Cheers
G




Australian iGP Series Pre Season Update (To join teams must be lvl 7 or lower)

350 rewards points are up for grabs this season in the Pro tier. To be eligible teams must be lvl 7 or under and complete all 17 races. Points will be paid at the end of the season. So with the final pre season test taking place this weekend and the season getting underway on Tuesday we take a look at the teams and drivers in the Australian iGP Series Pro Tier currently eligible.

Orange Lizards
1) J Torres
2) TBA
Having won the rookie title last season they will be looking to go back to back. Orange Lizards will have a all new driver line up and still have not confirmed their 2nd driver but will be lead by J Torres with 18 wins and 31 podiums from 38 starts Torres will be looking to add even more podiums to his already impressive tally.

Umbrella Racing
3) P Klein
4) D Genario
After taking their first victory last season at Germany and having a very strong mid season Umbrella Racing is also sporting a new driver line up who are both very hungry for their first victory. Umbrella proved to be very very strong last season in the wet and are confident they will have the same pace this season in the dry.

Arrow
5) M Kulaviir
6) D Zukas
Having won more races then anyone last season (a total of 6) and the last 4 straight Arrow carries huge momentum into this season. Retaining the services of star driver M Kulaviir (24% win rate) he is joined by newcomer D Zukas. Staff and driver changes might have cost Arrow a shot at the title last season however this year its all about stability in the team and another 2nd place in the championship will not be good enough.

DPG Motorsports
7)N Ryan
8)X He
Back to back wins in the Hungarian & European GP's was enough for N Ryan to retain his seat at DPG joined by X He who debuted in the last race of the season, he was impressive enough to secure a full time seat this season. DPG let slip a solid 2nd place in the championship when they twice ran out of fuel late in the season. Major staff changes will ensure there is no such errors this season.

Star Racing
9)    R Aso
10) J Willliams
Rumors have been circulating around the padock for the last 6 races and have now finally have been confirmed. In what is a major signing for the Australian iGP Series R Aso driving for Star Racing will be an almost unbackable favorite for the title this year. J Williams has been working very hard between seasons and says he is ready to step out of Aso's shadow and lead the team, only time will tell but one thing is for sure Star Racing will be the team to beat this season.

Polar Motorsports
11)R Graca
12)A Muller
Averaging 33 points per race Polar Motorsports will be looking to repeat its title winning season over Star Racing. But driver and staff changes since then leave too many questions unanswered. They still look like a championship winning team but is that winning chemistry still there with all those changes? We will find out this season.

MC Racing
13) S McNamara
14)N Wilson
MC Racing has been having trouble keeping its drivers over past few seasons but seems to have finally found a synergy in the team that works. S McNamara is the clear #1 & N Wilson is a true #2 driver. There is no inter team conflict here but if S McNamara does not perform MC Racing will be in trouble.

So that's a quick look at the current 7 teams who will be battling it out over the next 17 races for the Australian iGP Series championship. What surprises will this weekends pre season test throw up? Will there be any more championship contenders? Who will claim the first victory of the season this Tuesday in Melbourne? There's only one place to find out 

http://igpmanager.com/play/?url=league-info/1679#tab2     

Very good Graham. It was just like reading the the official F1 website. Looking forward to more news during the season.

Keep up the good work. Cheers.

Love it GS, Love it.

Lot of pressure there for Star Racing's drivers ah. Let hope that they can come through with the goods. Could be their Team Owner who lets them down ;)

Nicely done GS, im abit disapointed you didnt include track side photos but ill let it slide this time LOL. Great season preview :). Going to be a very interesting season Cant wait !!!!.

having a look at Polar Motorsports, they look to me the ones to beat this season. Some very good attributes for each driver there. I feel Star is being talked up to much. One night till race day, lets see how that goes.

With Pre season testing being washed out over the weekend we head into tonight's first race of the season with even more questions then we had last week.

We did hear from the Australian iGP Series Teams Association (AISTA) that reward points will be paid all the way down to 6th place this season based on final Team Championship Positions. 1st=160 2nd=80 3rd=50 4th=30 5th=20 6th=10.

Australian Series iGP Pro Tier (ASIP)
RD 1 – Australia

Qualifying for the first round of the ASIP seen MC Racings S McNamara & Polar Motorsports R Graca on the front row separated by only .025 The midfield was as expected very competitive with positions 3 – 12 covered by less than a second. The big surprise came from pre-season favorites Star Racing who could only manage 11 & 13 with ASO clocking a top speed of 306.96 km/h in the speed trap compared to DPG:306.46 Umbrella:307.88, Arrow:308.11, Orange:309.25, MC:309.98, Polar:310.65.

The race turned into a bit of a precession with the cars fairly spread out after only a few laps. The mid field battle was the one to watch with Orange being pushed hard by Umbrella and Arrow. DPG sadly was never on the pace and Star Racing with a short first stint was not able to get the hards working and with one lap to go looked to be out of the points until both Arrow cars ran out of fuel on the last lap.

S McNamara won with a golden grand slam (pole, win, fast lap, led every lap) from Polar Motorsports R Graca & A Muller. We now move to Malaysia and the rush is on for new parts and development. With Rain forecasted Umbrella must like their chances if last season’s wet weather performance is any guide.

Nice to see both cars on the podium :)

Post Australia Race Comments: 

M Kulaviir "We knew this league would be tough but not this tough.....I did everything i could today with the car i had, i drove it to its limits, forsure I feel I could have done better but i was told to slow down so i did to save tyres and fuel which gave my team mate the jump on me and the dirty air i was in all race...... Someone needs to explain to me how we ran out of fuel"  

D Zukas " I was very happy with my first driver for Team Arrow today we had alot of on going issues and team radio droping in and out made it hard... The Car itself at its current state is not competetive and we really need to be working hard at bringing upgrades to every race.. if we are going to be fighting for a points position... im at a loss to why we ran out of fuel not having the team radio didnt help the situation." 

Australian Series iGP Pro Tier (ASIP)  
RD 2 – Malaysian iGP

The forecasted rain was well and truly bucketing down at the start of qualifying and as a result there was an almost 3 sec gap covering the field. It was good to see Star Racing further up the grid with ASO in 4th and the big surprise was X HE in 6th leading the B class teams after a very poor performance in Australia. Top speeds in the speed trap were Arrow:302.00, Umbrella302.36, Orange:305.11, DPG:305.87, Star:306.79, MC:307.27, Polar:310.43.  
 
Once the race started it was the top 4 of Polar Motorsports & MC Racing quickly running away up front to fight it out for victory. Midfield again proved to be where the action was at and with Star Racing doing a 1 stop they looked to be on for a possible podium that is until the rain stopped with just 12 laps to go. Umbrella was fast to act and was in first for inters followed by Start Racing who went straight for the hards. Arrow followed 4 laps later and also went straight for the hards. DPG had a terrible mix up in their pit stop and re-fitted wets only to come back in 2 laps later for inters. Polar, MC & Orange were last to pit and went straight for softs. With the track not trying as fast as most thought it would we had a very rare situation on lap 33 with all 4 tire compounds being used.
Polar, MC, Orange = softs
Star = Hards
Umbrella, DPG = Inters
Arrow = Wets

Umbrella seem to have made the perfect call after running 10th most of the race now found themselves in 6th with the decision to swap early on to inters however overheating and blistering forced them to make a very late stop and drop back down but with the double pit stop over at DPG they were able to get back up to a solid 7th place finish.

At the front it was another golden grand slam (pole, win, fast lap, led every lap) but this time for Polar Motorsports R Graca teammate A Muller was in 2nd and last race winner S McNamara was back in 3rd for MC Racing. Some teams are finding it very tough this season and seem to have lost their way however if last season is anything to go by we have seen teams come from nowhere to consistent race winners, will see the development even out over the next few races as it looks like some teams have spent much more time on their current car design then others.   

An aweful start to the ASIP Season for Star Racing.

After a couple of great season of front runing, race and championship winning, Star Racing has found themselves floundering at the rear of the pack. The new A4 designed chassie is no where near the teams expectations. In the off season the new car showed all the promise of a leading and dominating car, not only on th teams rolling test rig, where laps times were half a second quicker than previous seasons, but even using the CFD (computer fluid dynamics) showed improved areo, more downforce levels with 4% less drag.

The team have had extra staff come in after the Australian round to check, double & tripple check over the data. I has been found that whilest Star Racing was moving headquarters along with DPG Motorsports (now sharing the same complex) at the end of last season, the calibration of the machines when set up was out by .006 of an inch. In this game, this equates to a lot, a hell of a lot. The team has now begun structure around the rest of the season, with new parts coming on board for round 3 of the ASIP in China.

Team Manager had this to say

"While we thought we had the right information setting for our A4 designed car, we didnt and these things happen to the best of us. We as a team just have to regroup and come back fighting. Its not going to be easy, we are loosing XP every race which costs the team money and we need that money for development of the car.

With what has happened and now we know, our drivers Ryuichi an Jack have actually done pretty good with a car not in its design element. While the new parts are only just coming through now for the next round, we wont really see the results until mid to end of season as we are starting from scratch and the parts we need feedback on from race to race. some parts may work and some may work agaist us. Time is not on our side and is the biggest factor."

Ryuichi Aso was quoted saying

"While i am dissapointed in the information on the car for us, this is a team and we will remain strong for the duration. We didnt get in testing due to the wash out at the start of the season and the found information only became news to us after the Round 2 race. So we are on our back foot now. The other teams are developing fast and are way ahead of us, we can only do our best with what we have."

Jack Williams was with reporters and had this to say

"You know, i thought the car was strange when i jumped in for first praccy session in Melbourne, I gave the feedback of what i thought was wrong with the car. Now all that information and feed back means nothing as we now know the issue was at the factory and the programs calibrations. The guys and girls back there do a fantastic job, lots of long hours and is hard work. We (Aso & Williams. ED) get the best part, being infront of the fans, drive and travel. I know we are now starting fresh like another new car, but i hope that the improved chassie is going to make us some what competative. One lap qualifiers dont win you races thats for sure. We just saw that last race."

Arrow team manager walking away from the race 

In other news - Reporters tried to chased down Arrows Team manager Brett Wilson as he was caught leaving the race track in disgust well before the chequered flag had dropped. No one was able to get to him as he drove off into the distance.. Insiders reveal a press conference will be called by Arrow in the coming days. We caught up with Cheif Designer Brandon Mendoza here is what he had to say.... 

"This is my second race here .. I have been left with a car that is just not competitive, from what I heard the former CD was embezzling the money that was meant to be put towards this season car . Not only has that damaged our chances for good results this seasons but its left our coffers very empty. no further comments...."


Post Race comments from M Kulaviir 

"Yes tough race.. (laughs) I'm usually quite comfortable with wet conditions and we thought a 1 stop might be the best strategy to gain an edge with the drivers around us buuut as you can see that was not the case.. it made me slower..alot slower... had i been on a 3 stop i think i would have been fighting for points...I did not have the pace or should i say i was no where near it, OF course  its frustrating !!! Ive gone from winning races consecutively to be last !!!.
I was also trying to get feed back on strategy towards the end there but the radio was silent not sure if there was an issue there or not. How am i finding the performance of the car you say ?? Dismal at best. I cant work out why we go form being so strong towards the end of last season only to end up at the very back of the field the next, Team Arrows is losing their reputation quite quickly... I don't know how we will recover from this, I'm not certain ill be able to score a point at this race, I give it my all each race and look where it gets me, anyway Gratz to the podium guys and if im not on vacation ill see you media guys next race."

I love these types of reports.  What imagination some of you 'reporters' have.

It makes the races all seem 'real'.
Just brilliant!

@Jake,

Watch this space, only two races into the season, im sure there is lots more to come

Australian Series iGP Pro Tier (ASIP)  
RD 3– Chinese iGP

After leaving the paddock in disgust mid race last week Arrow team principle B Wilson was back and talking to media and seemed very confident they would be scoring their first points of the season this round. Meanwhile fellow team principle S Stephens was a no show this round as he insisted it was much more important to personally oversee the re-calibration of the teams rolling test rig that was out by .006 of an inch then be here in China.

Qualifying saw Polar Motorsports and MC Racing filling the first 2 rows. It was mighty effort by Arrows M Kulavir to split the 2 Orange lizard’s drivers and with teammate D Zukas right behind Arrow finally looked to be heading in the right direction. Umbrella Racing was on row 5 with Star Racing & DPG on rows 6 & 7. Again we had the top 11 all within 1sec of each other but there was no surprise in the speedtrap with DPG:306.26, Umbrella:308.49, Star:309.40, Arrow:310.67, Orange:311.63, MC:312.71 & Polar:313.35

With the top 10 starting of softs it was all about tire conservation for the first stint and who could make them last. Drivers were quickly on the radios saying tires were going off after only 5 laps. The first round of pit stops started at the end of lap 9 for Arrow and Umbrella however D Zukas was unable to make his tires last and pitted at the end of lap 8 and this put him out of sequence very early and ultimately made him the only 4 stopper of the race as he just was not able to get enough life of either the softs or hards. The top 6 of Polar, MC & Orange made it to lap 11 before pitting and surprisingly went back onto the soft compound with everyone else on the hard compound at this stage they started losing .2sec per lap they eventually switched to the hards on the next round of stops . With everyone basically running in the order they qualified it was a very tight midfield at the mid point of the race with just 6 seconds covering positions 5-11.

Star Racing looked like scoring some points running a 2 stopper after staring on the hards but a costly fuel miscalculation resulted in a splash and go with 2 laps to go and dropped ASO out of the points after running as high as 5th at one stage. J Williams and both DPG drivers were never in the hunt and they must be dying for some newly calibrated updates beofre they fall to far behind in the points. M Kulavir drove a perfect race to finish where he qualified in 6th between the 2 Orange Lizard cars and Umbrella Racing again as they have done every race this season had both cars in the points. Up front we had our 3rd consecutive grand slam (pole, win, fast lap, led every lap) by a 3rd different driver. It was Polar Motorsports A Muller coming out on top this round ahead of MC Racing’s S McNamara and team mate R Graca.
 
Looking at the standings and the top 3 drivers are all tied on 58 points each having 1 victory, 1 second & 1 third to their names. With 14 rounds still to go it is a long way to the end of the season but it is starting to look like a 3 way fight at the top and a development race for the midfield to see who comes out on top for the lower placings.

Q. L Letizia (Technical Director), Tell us how you guys went today.
 "Look - Great result at China, The team really put the hours into this one.. We came out with a lot of data and we seem to be heading in the right direction and are now making ground with the car it’s not going to be the best this year but as long as we can maintain this momentum we will be rather happy."
 
Q. Tell us about your strategy 
"Well i can’t go into details but the drivers we very happy to try different strategies to assist with the car development and maximizing our speed over the course of the race. and now we go back and crunch the numbers for Bahrain and hope we can have another solid performance, what is really hurting us is no KERS (which is evident ) when will we get that ? Not to sure to be honest but id say a while."
 
Well done mate thanks for your time.
 
MK comments
"Very pleased with our progress the car felt alot better today, glad I didn’t take that holiday :). I was rather surprised to be competing against some of the teams around us today I’m looking to build on this. We ticked a lot of boxes today the guys did a great job on the car and managed the pits stops well. Thanks guys."
 
DZ Comment
"Great job by the team today we really made a step forward I believe having both cars in the top 10. We were lucky there I was chasing down Aso and we don’t have KERS so this is a big disadvantage to us and it showed, fortunately for us Aso had to pit again and that got us into the top 10 and that meant for me my first point in my IGP racing career. I was happy to try a different strategy today for the team and while we can see it wasn’t effective it’s something we have noted and won’t be looking at making that mistake again. Its just that we need to try these things out from time to time as the cars around us are very close on times and we need every advantage we can get."

Team Manager Brett WIlson
"I am pleased with the result for the team as a whole today and clearly with both being in the points looked like being a difficult one from many points of view, starting with tyre management. After what happened in Malaysia. Overall, the Arrows A1304 showed that it has good pace and we can take satisfaction from that. Now we must immediately turn the page and concentrate on the race coming up in Bahrain. We are absolutely aware that we still have a lot of work to do on qualifying performance if we want to make the most of our race pace.”

STAR RACING's SEASON, GONE BAD TO WORSE


With the season start for Star Racing already behind most other teams, it appears that not much has changed after the 3rd & 4th rounds. After the press conference last week accepting a mishap and major set back after the calibration of the teams test rig and CFD machine gone horribly wrong, the team was looking to sport some kind of better results. While this looked on track that it was going to occur with some great strategic planning by Tech Director Fabian Diaz, it appears that the team has massive fuel calculation issues. With both races loooking to score a good points haul, the strategy went out the door with only 2 laps remaining, with both cars having to pit for an extra unschedualed splash and dash of fuel to make the finish line.

The team owner (S Stephens) was so discusted with the teams lack of performance, he stormed off, while quoting some words not repeatable. Star Racing staff were put on notice until a media conference was held.

Media Statement: S Stephens

Firstly, thank you all for coming. The last couple of weeks has been very hard for our team. We are on the backfoot in a major way. The team had thought they had found the issue with the A4 chasie and were looking to make some sort of gain and move forward. We first notice of this not happening, was in the Chinese round, when our drivers were down the back in qually. The team worked hard on strategy to over come this issue and we made our way up to sixth & seventh respectivly, only to come home short with a fuel use or filling issue.

The team is looking into this issue and have suspected that it is KERS related. The extra power of the Williams F1 KERS system that we use is having an effect on our fuel burn ratio. Its something that we have to fix and fix very soon. We as a team and for our sponsors cant keep having silly little mistakes that take us out of contention for points.

With four races down, we are conceeding that the hunt for the championship is over. We just have to salvage the rest of the season the best we can. If we score points, well thats a bonus. We are going to be depending a lot on the future of the new up grades to the car, but our main concentration now is looking into the future and what the team can do for it.

Questions

Mr Stephens, are you confident that you will get the team back up and being competative?

"We have had a major meeting of the team, the team has decided that we are sticking together to work on the car and its future program. Our drivers (Aso & Williams. ED) are commited to the team. They enjoy the team, the personal and what the team has helped them accomplish in the season gone. Now it is their turn to be understanding and help the team move on"


Their has been reports that there has been interest with your drivers, mainly Aso. Are they going to be staying?

"Thats a stupid question, you journos dont listen do you. Like i just said BOTH our drivers are commited to the team, they are staying, they have driver contracts for another 12 races, then Star Racing has first option on them for contract renewls. So no they are not going anywhere"

You mentioned the Williams KERS system. Can you ellaborate on this issue some more?

"Sure. The system is bought from Williams F1, they are only a few teams that produce a KERS system. We dont have the budget of the bigger teams and Williams is one of the best out there. With only having one season behind us on KERS, we are still learning and with all the calibration issues this fuel issue is something we surely have missed. We are working hard with our Tech dept to overcome this for the up and coming rounds"

The concentration now into the future, are you talking about the A4 designed car or next season car, presumably the A5?

The team is now concentrating on the A5, while the A4 will be in use the whole season, its going to be a test mule for next seasons car. If the new design gets us up to score points, then well thats great for the team and the morale.

Any last questions

Will we be hearing from the drivers?

"unfortunately the drivers will not be taking any questions or making any statements at this stage. Both drivers have be asked not to speak to any media until futher notice and we hope you will not try and get them to answer any of your questions. Any questions are to be only directed to me (S Stephens. ED) until further notice"

Ok thanks all for coming, that wraps up the media conference. We will see you all at the next round in 4 days at Spain.

Australian Series iGP Pro Tier (ASIP)  
RD 4 – Bahrain iGP

With the temperature well over 30 deg teams were ready for a long hot race in Bahrain's desert. Star Racing’s team owner S Stephens returned to the paddock only moments before the race having overseen a major re-calibration back at the team’s factory and was looking to boost team moral after China’s disappointing result. Umbrellas team principle J Newton was again keeping very tight lipped to the media but sources inside the team said they were very confident new updates would continue the team’s great start to the season.

Qualifying did not throw up any surprises in the first 2 rows with MC Racing’s S McNamara on pole from Polar’s A Muller and their teammates lined up directly behind them. Orange locked out the 3rd row with Umbrella and Arrow split by R ASO starting 9th in what was the first time in dry conditions we have seen Star Racing not on the last 2 rows. Surprisingly both Star Racing drivers clocked the exact same speeds in the speed trap at 310.96 km/h other speeds were DPG:308.78, Umbrella:310.72, Star:310.96, Arrow:311.22, Orange:311.87, MC:312.58, Polar:312.94

With nothing separating the top 3 drivers all season they again quickly ran out to an early lead and there was never any more then 3sec between the top 3 all race until the last lap when S McNamara put in a blinding 1:23.286 lap to be the first 2 time winner this season. It was the 4th constitute golden grand slam of the season (pole, win, fast lap, led every lap).

Umbrella’s quite confidence proved to be well founded as they had another solid race finish in 7th & 8th but it was not an easy race for them and it could have been a much different result. ASO on a 2 stopper was cashing down P Klein on a 3 stopper and with 2 laps to go ASO made the move into turn 1 and took 7th only to pit at the end of the lap for a splash and go. While Arrows M Kulavir was closing in on Umbrella’s #2 Driver D Genario for 10th and looked to have it in the bag. Arrow having scored their first points of the season last race in China was keen to back it up with another points scoring result. However it was another fuel miscalculation that proved to be costly for Arrow with both drivers running out of fuel on the last lap and finishing out of the points.

Umbrella’s consistency paid off once again as they were looking at 8th & 11th (total 4 points) with 2 laps to go but came away with a 7th & 8th (total 10 points) finish as others tripped over themselves. Fuel is proving to be a problem for some teams and there will be some serious questions asked over at Star Racing as they have had a last lap splash and go for the second straight race. Questions as well will be asked over at Arrow who ran both drivers out of fuel also for the second time this season costing them both points. Only 4 races into the season but a 50% DNF/miscalculation rate is simply unacceptable at this level. As we head home to Europe for the first time this season teams will be looking to ensure there are no more rookie mistakes in the pro tier!

Australian IGP Magazine 

Team Arrows to use new-spec bowser pump at Spain

Seashells will switch Team Arrow on to its newest specification of bowser pump for the Spain GP Following the failures in the Bahrain GP, both drivers suffered their second failure in a race this year at Bahrain droping both drivers out of the points running. That prompted concerns from the team about that area of the car, Which left the Fuel suppliers in no doubt that Arrows must switch to the newer spec for the next showdown at Spain.

Seashells Head of pitstall operations Told AIGPM about plains for Spain
"It is very simple. We go for the new spec. It has passed all the tests." 

Team Manager comments
"It is just a worry, full stop," said Wilson. "Unfortunately it is the 2nd Bowser (failure in a race) that we have had, and obviously there have been other failures in other cars. We need to get rid of the old version and take a gamble on the new-spec".

Drivers has charity commitments and were not available for comment at time of publication.

The iGP Race Experience (T.I.R.E.)     
RD 5 – Spanish iGP Pro Tier
 
Pre-Race:
Seashells brought new fuel bowsers to Spain after several refueling issues in the first 4 races. As is the case each season the Spanish race sees the first major updates for all teams and a chance for those mid field teams to close the gap to the front runners and we often see a fairly mix grid as a result while teams sort out what does and does not work.

Qualifying:
S McNamara (MC) secured his 3rd pole of the season by just +0:00.073 over Orange Lizards A Williams & J Torres giving them their best starting spots of the season. J Williams (Star) also had a season best starting spot in 6th with teammate R Aso 8th. Arrow & Umbrella Racing with the very high tire wear both elected to qualify on hards and as such started at the back end of the grid.
 

Race Results:

MC Racing: 1st &  4th
S McNamara made it back to back victories with a dominating performance and another Golden Grand Slam. He was never troubled and finished with a 33sec lead. With 3 wins this season he is the only driver to stand atop the podium more than once. N Wilson again played the team roll but is still looking for his first podium of the season as he came home in fourth.

Orange Lizards: 2nd &  9th
A Williams made the most of his front row start and held second place all race long. It was a mighty effort to be the first non KERS car of the season to get on the podium. J Torres started well from 3rd but after the first round of pit stops it was clear he was struggling with the hard tire, after losing a position on the last lap he came home a disappointing 9th.

Polar Motorsports 3rd & 5th
R Graca would have liked to make a charge for second but simply did not have the car speed and was lucky to hang onto third. A Muller finished outside the top three for the first time this season. It was still a good points scoring race for the team but clearly a disappointing race for both drivers who were both over 30 sec off the lead.

Star Racing 6th &  8th
R Aso really looked comfortable in the car for the first time this season and was very racy from the first lap. Running as high as second at one stage he managed a season best sixth and we can only hope for more of the same. J Williams also showed there is real pace in the car coming from outside the points with eight laps to go only to narrowly missing out on seventh but still managed a season best eighth.

Arrow 7th &  10th
M Kulavir ran fourth before and after the first round of stops and even as high as second on two separate occasions. Driving very defensively on the last lap he was able to hold onto seventh and while it was not his best result of the season if was by far his best drive of the year. D Zukas was able pick up the last point scoring position in tenth but never looked like finishing any higher.

Umbrella 11th &  12th
D Genario & P Klein will both be asking some hard questions of the team as the car never looked competitive and for the first time this season neither driver scored any points. Still sitting fourth in the championship Umbrella cannot afford to be giving away points to the cashing midfield if they want to hold onto fourth in the championship.

DPG 13th &  14th
N Ryan & X He’s horrible season continues as both drivers finished a lap down and were clearly lacking top speed at only 311.59 km/h some 10km/h slower than the leading non KERS cars of Orange Lizards