Ben Garcka medal 5000 12 years 238 days ago (edited 12 years 119 days ago)
By Edwin Smith
Team Season Review British Racing League – For season 11 ending 27th July 2012
EJ Technical Motorsport (EJTM), won their 12th team title, but there were going to be challengers....
David Lyons proved that he could justify his pre-season words, by finishing 1st & 5th in the opener & lead by 2 points. However, this would be the only time that EJTM did not lead the championship.
Nomura Lyons Mercedes (NLM), further proved their promise by holding a convincing 2nd place until Monaco, but trailed by 52 points. This however would be the end of the NLM challenge as they scored just 33 points from the next 6 races. They lost 2nd place to Andrew Shirley Racing (ASR) at Turkey but would rally later in the season & go on to secure 3rd in the championship.
ASR scored just 12 points in the first 2 races, but then produced 7 podiums from the next 9, including 3 wins to trail by 19 points after the European round. Unfortunately ASR would score only 10 points more after experiencing internet connection issues. Without this they would surely have challenged for the title.
Richard Johnstone Racing (RJR), started slowly & were fifth after Bahrain with 26 points, but then scored in every race & took a fine 2nd place in the championship, including victories for Nyman in Spain & Brazil.
Just 15 points separated 3rd from 5th, proving again how competitive the season had been.
Drivers Season Review
EJTM won their 12th drivers title, but 7 different drivers would stand on the top step of the podium.
Onishi for NLM won the opener, but here too, this would be the only time that Zerdzinski from EJTM would not be at the top of the title race & he duly took the win in Malaysia.
At China, EJTM dropped the ball by using dry settings in the wet qualifying with Zerdzinski starting from eighteenth; his worst qualifying of the season. Todorov from Invictus Competition took the victory making it three different winners in three races.
Onishi won again in Bahrain & trailed Zerdzinski by just 4 points. It looked as if NLM were going to make a serious bid for glory & if they did not, there was a queue of others.
Nyman won the next for RJR by 14 seconds, the largest margin of the season & at Monaco Kelly won for ASR; making five different winners from the first six races. The title looked to be wide open with Zerdzinski on 96 points, Onishi with 91 & Kelly on 81.
At Turkey Zerdzinski won, but crucially Onishi failed to score & got just 19 points from the next 4 races ending his title hopes. Kelly kept the pressure on though with victories in Great Britain & Germany; Zerdzinski lead by just 5 points. Could Kelly deliver?
Zerdzinski won the next 2 races with Kelly 2nd both times, with the gap now 19 points. But at this point ASR lost internet connection & with Zerdzinski winning the next 2, the title was claimed.
Saarinen who had played a supporting role at EJTM would take 2nd & Kelly would have enough points to finish 3rd. Onishi finished with 3 2nd places confirming his challenge for next season. Nyman won again in Brazil & Cavallero won the last for Speedvision making 7 different winners.
What of next season?
The gaps at the top of both championships were significant, but this season was different. Six different teams won races & there are 2 others who could have. Can James & Guilherme promoted from Pro make an impact? How many other leagues could say that they have atleast 8 & probably 10 teams contending?
If you thought this season was competitive you ain't seen nothin' yet.
Ben Garcka medal 5000 12 years 161 days ago
season 10 begins friday! season 9 was the most competitive season for us so far and its going to be just as good next season.
we have a few spaces available, feel free to sign up.
Andrew Hurn medal 5000 12 years 161 days ago (edited 12 years 161 days ago)
6 of the other top 10 rated players are doing 50% races. Perhaps you might like to compete against some of the best over the full distance? All welcome.
Andrew Hurn medal 5000 12 years 122 days ago (edited 12 years 121 days ago)
Team Season Review British Racing League – For season 11 ending 27th July 2012
EJ Technical Motorsport (EJTM), won their 12th team title, but there were going to be challengers....
David Lyons proved that he could justify his pre-season words, by finishing 1st & 5th in the opener & lead by 2 points. However, this would be the only time that EJTM did not lead the championship.
Nomura Lyons Mercedes (NLM), further proved their promise by holding a convincing 2nd place until Monaco, but trailed by 52 points. This however would be the end of the NLM challenge as they scored just 33 points from the next 6 races. They lost 2nd place to Andrew Shirley Racing (ASR) at Turkey but would rally later in the season & go on to secure 3rd in the championship.
ASR scored just 12 points in the first 2 races, but then produced 7 podiums from the next 9, including 3 wins to trail by 19 points after the European round. Unfortunately ASR would score only 10 points more after experiencing internet connection issues. Without this they would surely have challenged for the title.
Richard Johnstone Racing (RJR), started slowly & were fifth after Bahrain with 26 points, but then scored in every race & took a fine 2nd place in the championship, including victories for Nyman in Spain & Brazil.
Just 15 points separated 3rd from 5th, proving again how competitive the season had been.
Drivers Season Review
EJTM won their 12th drivers title, but 7 different drivers would stand on the top step of the podium.
Onishi for NLM won the opener, but here too, this would be the only time that Zerdzinski from EJTM would not be at the top of the title race & he duly took the win in Malaysia.
At China, EJTM dropped the ball by using dry settings in the wet qualifying with Zerdzinski starting from eighteenth; his worst qualifying of the season. Todorov from Invictus Competition took the victory making it three different winners in three races.
Onishi won again in Bahrain & trailed Zerdzinski by just 4 points. It looked as if NLM were going to make a serious bid for glory & if they did not, there was a queue of others.
Nyman won the next for RJR by 14 seconds, the largest margin of the season & at Monaco Kelly won for ASR; making five different winners from the first six races. The title looked to be wide open with Zerdzinski on 96 points, Onishi with 91 & Kelly on 81.
At Turkey Zerdzinski won, but crucially Onishi failed to score & got just 19 points from the next 4 races ending his title hopes. Kelly kept the pressure on though with victories in Great Britain & Germany; Zerdzinski lead by just 5 points. Could Kelly deliver?
Zerdzinski won the next 2 races with Kelly 2nd both times, with the gap now 19 points. But at this point ASR lost internet connection & with Zerdzinski winning the next 2, the title was claimed.
Saarinen who had played a supporting role at EJTM would take 2nd & Kelly would have enough points to finish 3rd. Onishi finished with 3 2nd places confirming his challenge for next season. Nyman won again in Brazil & Cavallero won the last for Speedvision making 7 different winners.
What of next season?
The gaps at the top of both championships were significant, but this season was different. Six different teams won races & there are 2 others who could have. Can James & Guilherme promoted from Pro make an impact? How many other leagues could say that they have atleast 8 & probably 10 teams contending?
If you thought this season was competitive you ain't seen nothin' yet.
Amelia Lyons medal 5235 12 years 122 days ago
I'm glad I stirred a fuss at the start of the season, cause I was a fresh Elite, people didn't think I would produce a winning car on the first round. It just goes to show, anything can happen, anyone can win. I challenged and fought, Australia will be without me, but the next six will feature a strong team and car.
Edwin, it was fun battling you this season, I showed you can have a real challenge along with others, your early season mistake at China did open the door for alot of people, I just wish I could kept my form but commitments got in the way. :P Some were my fault, but this season I'll try and be more consistant so you know you definately get a real fight.
Currently updating my Data for my racing so I will have a great money vs component replacement balance, to allow me to earn money while still having a reliable car, move some engineers and mechanics out, and move them to Marketing, continue on gathering very accurate data on Tire Temperatures and ofcourse win :D
Andrew Hurn medal 5000 12 years 103 days ago (edited 12 years 103 days ago)
Season 12 Review – British Racing League
The end result was the same as before, but this season would be defined by the race for the ranking points & it's close finishes. 6 times the gap between 1st & 2nd at the flag, would be less than 2 seconds & there were a handful of other races where the gap was less than 5 seconds.
Australia
Juhno took pole for Reidj Scuderia (RS). The 1st 13 on the grid were covered by 1 second & the whole grid by just 2.1 seconds.
Newly promoted Zero Wing (ZW) announced their arrival in Elite with both drivers scoring points in 7th & 9th. Sparks McLaren GP (SM) who managed just 2 points last season, looked to be more competitive as Berzins finished 4th. Over at EJ Technical Motorsport (EJTM) things began ominously well, with Zerdzinski winning comfortably & Saarinen in 3rd. Mookjai took a superb 2nd place for Lemon GP who also scored only 2 points last season & Nguyen took 8th, putting Lemon 2nd in the team championship.
This was as close as anyone would come to EJTM in the team title & Zerdzinski would not be headed in the drivers championship either.
Malaysia
1 second covered the top 10 on the grid. Onishi had the pole position for Nomura Lyons Mercedes (NLM) & his 5 stop strategy gave him a 4th place finish. Juhno qualified 24th & his 3 stopper gave him an excellent 3rd; surely one of the drives of the season. Just when it looked like the order had been finalised & only 2 laps from the end, it began to rain. Immediately some stopped for wets, some for inters; but it was those who chose to stay out that faired the best. This had the effect of turning the mid-field upside down, but at the front things carried on in a more worrying trend for their opposition; EJTM took a comfortable 1 2 by 12 seconds.
China
The top 17 on the grid were covered by 1 second with Cavallero on pole for Speedvision. He would dominate here & went on to take the win & the fastest lap, some 4 seconds in front of Zerdzinski & Saarinen. Invictus Competition (IC) had qualified 2nd & 3rd, & were quickly past Cavallero. They were running a much shorter stint, but even so, their pace was remarkable. Some suggested that perhaps they were using a different fuel from everyone else, but post race scrutineering revealed nothing. Sadly their initial pace did not secure them any points.
Bahrain
Once again the grid was very close with the slowest driver just 1.148 seconds behind Onishi on pole. Williams F1 had their best qualifying of the season here, with 2nd & 3rd; Fuchs in 2nd was just 0.01 from pole.
Onishi led away & when he pitted at the end of lap 9 he already had a 10 second lead. He held off a late challenge from Cavallero & took a fine 3rd, but he was 18 seconds behind the winner. EJTM took another 1 2, with Zerdzinski taking 3 wins & a 2nd from the opening 4 races.
Zerdzinski led the drivers championship with 93 points, Saarinen 2nd with 66, Cavellero 3rd 47, Onishi 35, Juhno 33. In the teams title, EJTM led with 159, Speedvision had 69, NLM 43, SM 36, RS 33. Even at this early stage of the season it looked like EJTM had one hand on both trophies.
Spain
Todorov was on pole for IC & the entire grid was covered by just 2.1 seconds, further evidence of the level of competition. Zerdzinski was off the pace here & could only manage 4th, his worst result of the season. Onishi went well again holding 2nd until lap 59 when Saarinen slid by. He would go on to take 3rd, just 5 seconds behind the winner. Novak for Comic Racers (CR), had started the season slowly with just a 6th place in Malaysia. Here though he was right on the pace & with 7 laps to go, he had a 5 second lead over Saarinen. Saarinen got to within 1.8 seconds, but Novak was managing the gap & held off the late charge to take the victory.
At this point in the season Speedvision, who held 2nd in the team race & 3rd in the drivers, lost there team manager to illness & this would be the end of their challenge.
Monaco
On a track where qualifying has such a large impact on the result, it was astonishing to see that 1 second covered the top 24. There were some who looked at the timing sheets in dis-belief. They thought that they had a good low fuel run but would be too far down the field now to make any impact. If proof were needed, the 1st 8 finishers all qualified inside the top 10.
Zerdzinski took his only pole of the season here & many expected him to win. Novak however had other ideas & after qualifying in 2nd place he was hounding the leader immediately. He eventually got past on the run up to Casino Square on lap 9. Zerdzinski was not about to give in easily though. After the 1st round of stops, Novak led by 3.7 seconds. He extended this to 9 seconds by halfway but it was down to 2.6 after the final stops. The gap remained around 2.5 seconds until lap 72, when Zerdzinski decided it was time to attack. The gap came down, 1.9, 1.5, 1.3, 0.6 & now Zerdzinski gave it everything. Novak however was not to be denied & led by 0.8 at the line. A superb finish. Juhno took the final podium place for RS some 9 seconds back.
Turkey
Onishi was on pole again & the top 11 on the grid were covered by 1 second. For your writer this was the best race of the season. Saarinen was 2nd on the grid & looked to attack right from the start. The gap after the 1st lap was 0.5, then 0.6, 0.4, 0.6 again. Onishi looked calm & in control at the front & would not allow Saarinen past. Mustonen from 3rd on the grid managed to get past Saarinen on lap 5 & he was as determined but Onishi continued to lead. On lap 6 Zerdzinski who had started 4th managed to pass both Saarinen & Mustonen & he too was all over Onishi. The gap was 1 second, then 1.1 & 0.7. Still the Japanese star led.
After the 1st round of stops, Zerdzinski looked to make a big challenge & but it took until lap 18 to get by & he stopped again just 2 laps later. Onishi seemed oblivious to the queue forming behind & after the 2nd round of stops led by 1.8 seconds from Zerdzinski, with Novak right behind in 3rd. Saarinen fell back a little & it was Todorov who had started from 9th who was now 4th in the queue. More stops followed, then more laps with Onishi controlling the gap & Zerdzinski & Novak looking increasingly impatient; Todorov getting nearer all the time. Novak got past Zerdzinski on lap 34, but still Onishi held firm. The gap to Zerdzinski in 3rd was never more than 4.2 seconds, this despite dealing with constant traffic.
After the final stops the order was even closer; Onishi, 0.56 seconds, Novak, 0.54, Zerdzinski, with Todorov a further 5 seconds back. Surely Onishi could not hold on? Over the next 7 laps, the gap back to Novak was never more than 0.7 of a second & Novak had Zerdzinski never more than 0.6 behind him. With 2 laps to go, Zerdzinski set his fastest lap of the race & made it past Novak, but could do nothing about Onishi. They finished Onishi, 0.9 seconds, Zerdzinski, 0.7 Novak & Todorov who had closed the gap to just 1 second behind Novak. A sensational finish.
EJTM chose this moment to replace Ville Saarinen. He had won 8 drivers titles & helped to win 11 team titles. He would be sorely missed.
GB
1 second covered just the top 6 & Novak was on pole. In between qualifying & the start it began to rain. This meant that almost everyone stopped at the end of the 1st lap. This also generated a number of different strategies & it was hard to see how things would pan out.
The rain stopped on lap 27 & it was Tambe from CR in 12th who pitted 1st for slicks on lap 32. Many watched his times closely & it took him just 3 laps to demonstrate that slicks were now faster. Novak pitted, as did many more over the next few laps & after the final round of stops Zerdzinski led Novak by 1.5 seconds with Todorov in 3rd some 20 seconds back.
Novak was immediately all over Zerdzinski bringing the gap down to just 0.3 seconds with 3 laps to go. But the Polish team leader had watched & learnt from Onishi at Turkey & the EJTM car was suddenly much wider. On the penultimate lap Novak used up his kers on the way down to Stow & drew alongside, but Zerdzinski had the line & continued to lead. With both of them doing their fastest laps on the final lap, Zerdzinski held on; the gap at the flag just 1.1 seconds. Todorov took a superb 3rd some 25 seconds ahead of the rest. This was remarkable given that they managed the changeable conditions without their team manager.
RJR who had taken an excellent 2nd place in last seasons championship had surprisingly failed to score so far & also had some issues with fuel. Here though they occupied 2nd & 4th on the grid & both cars finished in the points.
Germany
Todorov was on pole with 1 second covering the top 14. Onishi went into the lead on lap 2 & would spend much of the race battling for the 1st 2 places with Zerdzinski. After what seemed to be the final round of stops, Zerdzinski led, with Onishi 2.7 seconds behind & Todorov was around 10 seconds back in 3rd. Onishi started to close the gap immediately; 2.4, then 1.8, 1.4, 0.7, 0.5 & then with 4 laps to go made it past Zerdzinski. There should have been a smile on the face of the team manager at NLM, but he quickly realised they did not have enough fuel to get to the end. Their splash & dash left them in 3rd. Todorov was 2nd & Zerdzinski looked more & more like the champion.
At the halfway point in the season, the championships looked like this
Drivers: Zerdzinski 191, Saarinen 106, Onishi 94, Novak 91, Juhno 70.
Teams: EJTM 297, NLM 115, CR 91, RS 89 & Speedvision on 82.
Hungary
1 second covered the top 9 on the grid with Todorov on pole. There were quite a mixture of strategies here & Todorov again looked as though he was using different fuel. He would go on to stop 6 times & took another 3rd place. Juhno's 3 stops gave him an excellent 2nd & Zerdzinski's 4 stops gave him the win by 4 seconds. Novak's 4 stops gave him 4th, but Onishi was off the pace here & could manage only 10th.
Europe
The 1st 10 were covered by 1 second. Mustonen took pole & Todorov locked out the front row for IC; Todorov would go on to finish 2nd. Novak qualified 4th, but was quickly into 3rd & would hold this position until the end. Onishi had a poor qualifying here, starting 22nd but drove well to finish 5th. Zerdzinski though was on fire here. He took the lead on lap 10 & would hold it til the flag, finishing 22 seconds ahead.
Belgium
It was RS 200th grand prix & they celebrated with Juhno taking pole. 1 second covered the 1st 11. Juhno was off like a rocket from the start & even before the 1st round of stops had a significant lead. Some suggested that he had borrowed fuel from IC. This race came down to just 2 & remarkably the 2nd of them qualified 21st. EJTM had no explanation for this, but Zerdzinski would redeem himself with one of the drives of the season.
After the 1st round of stops Zerdzinski was 12 seconds behind Juhno. After the 2nd stop it was 8 seconds & after the 3rd stop it was down to 2.8 seconds. Could he win from 21st on the grid? On lap 38 he made it past Juhno, but the Ukraine driver had not given up. The gap was 0.6, then 0.7, then 1.0, 1.1 & 1.0 again. Starting the final lap Zerdzinski had a lead of 0.8 but Juhno still had some Kers & used it going up the hill to Les Combes, sliding past. Incredibly Zerdzinski stuck to the task & retook the lead just after Stavelot. He would hold on with the gap being just 0.3 at the flag. They both set their fastest lap on the final lap. Yet another grandstand finish. Chan for RS took 3rd too, giving them much needed points in the team race. Todorov was 4th & Novak 5th. Onishi could manage only 10th.
This was Zerdzinski's 5th consecutive victory & it gave him the drivers title. These points were also enough for EJTM to take the team title. The battle was now on for 2nd & it would be well worth watching.
Drivers: Juhno had 128, Onishi 106, Novak 106 & Todorov 92.
Teams: RS 150, CR 136, NLM 127 & IC on 106
Italy
The top 17 on the grid were covered by 1 second. Mustonen was on pole for IC. Zerdzinski took a relatively comfortable win here, with NLM taking a good 2nd & 3rd. RS finished 4th & 5th but unfortunately Novak failed to score. SM continued their greatly improved season with 6th & 7th. Sadly for IC both cars ran dry on the final lap & this would take them out of the chase.
Singapore
1 second covered just the 1st 7. RS locked out the front row, CR had the 2nd row & NLM the 3rd. RS looked to have this race under control from the very beginning. Juhno led & on adjusted time he remained there for most of the race with Chan just a few seconds behind. Zerdzinski had been 3rd on adjusted time, at one point some 29 seconds behind. He had not given up though & after the final stops he was just 5 seconds back & closing fast. On lap 55 the gap was 2.0, then 0.9, 0.9 again, 0.5, 0.7 & then on the last lap he managed to get past Juhno & took the win by just 1.4 seconds. Chan took 3rd for RS, Novak was 5th & Tambe 7th for CR, NLM took 6th & 8th.
3 races to go
Drivers: Novak 138, Juhno 136 Onishi 132
Teams: RS 205, NLM 172 & CR 153
This would be Comics last scoring finish of the season & so there were just 2.
Japan
Juhno took pole & 1 second covered the 1st 11. Juhno led away, but was down to 3rd after the 1st round of stops. King led from Onishi, with Zerdzinski in 4th.
On lap 30 it began to rain & NLM stopped for inters, whilst RS & EJTM went for the full wet. The inters were faster initially, but after about 7 laps it became too wet & Juhno cruised by. After the final stops Juhno led Zerdzinski by 8 seconds with Onishi a couple of seconds back. Onishi looked ready & began to close the gap. Unfortunately he was faster because he did not have enough fuel to make it to the end & both NLM's drivers stopped at the beginning of the last lap. In a particularly impressive move, both cars still ran out of fuel before the line. This promoted Chan to 3rd & the 2 SM cars to 4th & 5th; their best finish of the season.
It had been far too long since Reidj Scuderia had stood on the top step of the podium & Juhno's superb victory could only be good for the league.
Brazil
King was on pole, with 1 second covering just the top 7. Zerdzinski led just before making his 1st stop & on adjusted time would lead to the end. King & Onishi for NLM pushed past Juhno into 2nd & 3rd before half distance. Later Juhno would lose 4th to Mookjai for Lemon & this would be the finishing order. Zerdzinski had 6 seconds at the flag with King getting his best finish of the season in 2nd.
With just Abu Dhabi left, Juhno had an 18 point lead over Onishi & RS had 40 points over NLM. They needed an Onishi victory with King 2nd & RS failing to score. It looked unlikely.
Abu Dhabi
Onishi completed the 1st part of the task by taking pole. RS were 2nd & 3rd & King was 4th. After the 1st round of stops the order was Onishi, King, Zerdzinski, Juhno & Chan. After the 2nd stops Zerdzinski had got past King & by the time of the final stops he had passed Onishi too. Juhno had also pushed past King with Chan still in 5th. Onishi could do nothing about Zerdzinski who took his 12th victory of the season. Juhno was 3rd & this was enough to give him 2nd in the drivers championship. It was also enough to give Reidj 2nd place in the teams title & those precious 100 ranking points.
Edwin took both titles again but Reidj was back on form & he hoped to be here a bit more next season. David L punched above his weight again & it was good to see Ben back at the sharp end. David J hoped to be around for more races next season & it would be interesting to see if Mark, Jukka & Fernando could build on their good results. Guilherme had a promising 1st season in Elite, but the Pro champion of last season, James could only manage a single point. Richard had a poor season, but he is expected to be much improved for the next & unfortunately Andrew still does not have an internet connection. Sadly the final 4 could not score any points & Bob & Camden were relegated to Pro. Flo & Sebastian managed to stay in the tier, but they would need to do considerably better. We welcome Laura & David promoted from Pro & look forward to some more great racing.
Edwin Smith
Amelia Lyons medal 5235 12 years 103 days ago
Was looking forward to that review Edwin, looking forward to next seasons :)
NLM Press Release for Season 13.
[list]
[*]Both Onishi and King are confirmed to Driver for NLM for the whole season.
[*]The LP-09A has been built and is far more powerful than the LP-08A.
[*]The Team has increase it's Design team by 40% to compensate for the strong car this season.
[*]There will be no changes to suppliers this season, Bridgestone, BP and Mercedes-AMG
[*]Kingfisher has been dropped for Obunto Sponsorship.
[*]King is now at a competitive level, which he showed at the end of Season 12.
[*]Nomura Lonah GP has joined the Elite Series, the sister team of Nomura Lyons Mercedes-AMG, there will be alot of Data Sharing between the teams.
[*]Onishi and King are to remain in their same car seats as last year, Onishi being the Lead Driver, but neither are favoured over the other for winning races and championships. The two drivers are to score consistant high points to secure a possible Constructor's Championship where EJTM will be lacking balanced Teammates this season.
[*]King is expected to score more points than Onishi.
[*]The LP-09A images has been released for show. (See below)
[/list]
