Andrew Hurn medal 5000 11 years 153 days ago (edited 11 years 153 days ago)
British Racing League – Elite Tier – Season 18 Review
You may recall from last seasons review that we had just 3 different winners, well this season we increased that by 1 but there was only ever 1 team in the running for the titles.
Also similar to last season were the separate divisions within the tier. We increased that by 1 too. The top team scored 39% of the available points, then there were 4 teams battling over 2nd in the teams & 3rd in the drivers & they scored 44% of the points; then there were 6 teams who are trying hard to break into the 2nd division, who scored 17% & then there were 5 teams who failed to score; 2 of which were promoted from Pro last season & 1 of these was relegated back to Pro.
All of which further emphasises the growing gap between the Pro & Elite tiers. Anthony Davies who won convincingly in Pro last season, managed a best finish of just 13th in China; a tough introduction. Bruno Sousa Ferreira was again the best of those recently joined. He too increased his points scoring tally by 1, with a fine 5th in Great Britain & 7th in Abu Dhabi.
Despite the apparent dominance of the season, there was as always some great racing.
Australia
Nguyen took pole for Lemon GP & the 1st 21 on the grid were covered by 1 second. Nguyen led until his opening pit stop on lap 8 but gradually fell back through the field, ending up 7th. Chan took over at the front for Reidj Scuderia (RS) & led until his 2nd stop on lap 22. Mansell for DoxJQ emerged from his 2nd stop at the same time & took the lead, but Chan followed closely & over the next 7 laps, they were locked together. The gap was greatest on lap 25 when it was 0.8 of a second & Chan led briefly on lap 29, but it became apparent that Chan's speed was due to less fuel & he would be stopping once more than Mansell who would take the opening race of the season. DoxJQ made sure they emphasised their speed advantage by having Lauda come through from 13th on the grid to finish 2nd. Chan went on to finish 4th, just ahead of his team mate Juhno. Jerayesh for King Power (KP) was 3rd but he was 14 seconds behind Mansell & 6 seconds behind Lauda. Many in the pit lane worried that we might have a repeat of last season.
Malaysia
Webber was on pole for Project Lyons Mercedes, (PLM) & 1 second covered the top 17. Webber led on time adjusted for pit stops until lap 34, when Mansell, who was 8th on the grid, took the lead & raced unchallenged to the end. Lauda had qualified 9th & he took 2nd place on lap 35 & finished 9 seconds ahead of Webber. Nguyen used his car advantage to come from 14th on the grid to finish 4th , his best finish of the season & had there been 1 more lap he would surely have passed Webber such was his speed at the end. Jerayesh finished 5th with a fine drive from 10th on the grid.
China
Mookjai took pole for Lemon & the 1st 18 were covered by 1 second. Mansell had qualified 2nd & overtook Mookjai on the opening lap. Lauda again showed that perhaps qualifying was not his strongest attribute, starting from 13th, but was already up to 2nd by lap 12. Webber & Zerdzinski for EJ Technical Motorsport, (EJTM), started a race long battle on lap 12, with Zerdzinski making the early running.
On lap 29 the order was Mansell 9.2 Lauda 5.7 Chan 1.9 Webber 1.1 Zerdzinski 9.0 Schmidt for That Slow Team (TST) & then it began to rain. Chan was stopping that lap anyway & was in the pits just before the rain began to fall. He fitted softs & then pitted again the next lap for full wets. Webber pitted on lap 30 for inters & then Mansell, Lauda, Zerdzinski & Schmidt pitted 1 lap later for full wets.
The DoxJQ boys carried on at the front, seemingly oblivious to the changing conditions & took another 1,2 finish; Mansell 8 seconds ahead of Lauda. Webber took the full wets on lap lap 37 & despite being hounded by Zerdzinski at the end completed the podium. Schmidt took advantage of the unlucky Chan finishing 5th.
The points:
Drivers: Mansell 75, Lauda 54, Webber 38, Jerayesh 26, Chan 21
Teams: DoxJQ 129, PLM 44, KP 38, RS 35, EJTM 20
Bahrain
Nguyen was on pole again & 1 second covered the 1st 19. Lauda qualified 6th, but raced well & took his 1st victory of the season with Mansell 2.3 seconds behind. Juhno had been in the lead for 26 laps, but as the race went on, the Doxjq pair began to assert themselves & he finished 3rd 7 seconds behind Mansell. His team mate Chan was 4th & Jerayesh came from 11th on the grid to finish 5th.
Spain
Pole was taken by Juhno & the top 21 were covered by 1 second. RS were providing the challenge for DoxJQ so far & here they challenged their hardest yet. Juhno led away with Lauda close behind. They both stopped on lap 11 & rejoined 1st & 2nd. Lauda wasn't quite as close through the 2nd stint, but the gap was never more than 3.5 seconds. Juhno stopped again on lap 22, but crucially Lauda went 1 more lap before stopping & took the lead. Juhno was all over him during this next stint, less than a second behind & made it passed on lap 30. Juhno stopped once more on lap 33, but again Lauda went further; 2 laps this time & this made the difference. Chan kept up well in the 4th stint, but after that he gradually fell away finishing 7.7 seconds back. Behind them, Mansell had qualified just 8th, but was into 3rd place by lap 28. Chan chased him home for 4th & Mookjai for Lemon, came from 18th on the grid to finish 5th, his best result of the season.
Reidj's performance here gave hope to everyone & proved that Mansell was human after all.
Monaco
Sen was on pole for Invictus Competition, (IC), with the 1st 27 cars within a second. IC took 3rd on the grid too with Wood, their best qualifying of the season. But it was the other driver on the front row who went passed Wood on lap 4. Richard Johnstone Racing (RJR) had a quiet start to their season, but Castro qualified 2nd here & took the lead on lap 4. Mansell made it into 2nd on lap 6 after qualifying 5th & brought the gap down from 2.8 seconds to 1.8 by the time they both stopped on lap 16. Castro rejoined in front, but Mansell was into the lead on lap 19. Lauda was running 3rd & he too passed Castro on lap 28. That sealed the order for the podium despite a late splash & dash for Castro. The KP pair held 4th & 5th from lap 33 & whilst they were some 30 seconds off the pace, they were 20 seconds ahead of Webber in 6th.
The points:
Drivers: Mansell 133, Lauda 122, Jerayesh 56, Juhno 51, Webber 50.
Teams: DoxJQ 255, RS 98, KP 80, PLM 56, EJTM 31.
Turkey
Sen was on pole again, by almost 0.3 & 1 second covered the 1st 14. Sen led through the 1st stint. Sen led throughout his 2nd stint. Sen continued to lead & Mansell now 2nd was catching him but it was a slow process.
Sadly, we shall never know if Fernandos driver would have held on, because on lap 31 it began to rain. The order then was Sen 4.0 Mansell 4.3 Monteiro for PLM, 5.6 Schmidt 2.5 Lauda. Sen pitted immediately for full wets, dropping him briefly to 7th, but he retook the lead on lap 34. Mansell & Lauda stopped for full wets on lap 32, Schmidt took inters then as well & Monteiro stopped 1 lap later for the full wets. Inters were a mistake for Schmidt & he was forced to stop again on lap 36 for the full wet, dropping him to 12th.
Sen was still leading but Mansell was now a lot quicker. The gap came down. 3.2, 2.7, 2.2, 1.9, 0.4 & as Sen pitted once more, Mansell stayed out for another lap & took the lead. Sen continued in 2nd with a reasonable gap to 3rd, but he stopped for a splash & dash with 1 lap to go & finished just 5th. Mansell finished 17 seconds ahead of Monteiro, Lauda was less than a second behind in 3rd & Schmidt had his best result of the season in 4th.
GB
The rain in qualifying caught out many, but not the RJR pair who filled the front row. SupernovA had wet settings too & took the 2nd row & Ferreira's pair occupied 5th & 6th. Many of the leading teams were well down the field; Jerayesh currently 3rd in the drivers standings was 14th , Webber was 17th & RS were 19th & 21st. The 1st 15 were covered by 1 second.
It was raining throughout the race & RJR looked like their former selves, using their wet settings to great effect. Smetowski led every lap except 2 & Castro was 2nd except for a few laps in his opening stint when Lauda got passed. Lauda was 3rd for much of the race, but was not close enough at any time to put pressure on Castro. Mansell was 4th, his worst finish of the season & Junc for Ferreira Racing was a superb 5th, their best result of the season. Kuznetsov for Atomic GP F1 was a brilliant 6th from 17th on the grid & in contrast EJTM failed to score, the 1st time that had happened since the opening race of season 15.
In what many saw as an astonishing move, PLM chose this moment to sack Webber. It appeared that 2 3rd places this season were not enough to beat his 2 non scoring finishes.
Germany
Normal service resumed here in the wet with Juhno on pole. Oosting qualified well again in 5th for SupernovA & Mansell was a surprising 12th. It continued to rain throughout the race again for which teams were better prepared. Lauda was on fire here; qualifying 2nd passing Juhno on lap 3. He then led almost every lap & was 18 seconds clear of the field at the flag. Juhno held 2nd for much of the race & finished there. Chan should have been 3rd, holding off a late charge from Mansell but stopped for a splash & dash on the final lap, promoting Mansell to 3rd, Monteiro to 4th & Zerdzinski to 5th & those 3 were covered by just 4 seconds. Chan went on to finish 10th.
The points:
Drivers: Mansell 185, Lauda 177, Juhno 69, Jerayesh 58, Chan 48.
Teams: DoxJQ 362, RS 117, KP 90, PLM 88, RJR 66.
Hungary
Smetowski took the pole by just 0.002 seconds from Lauda. Incredibly, the 1st 29 on the grid were covered by just 0.9 seconds. Lauda was leading by lap 4 & whilst he only won by 2 seconds, Monteiro was not really close enough at any time to challenge. Mansell qualified poorly in 15th & after a frantic 1st lap was down to 19th. He was on fire after that though with the drive of the season to take 3rd. Juhno probably took the 2nd drive of the season coming from 18th on the grid to finish 4th. Zerdzinski had a steady run to 5th.
Europe
Monteiro was on pole & the top 23 were covered by 1 second. From the outside of the front row it was Chans turn to be on fire as he led every lap. Mansell was 3rd until lap 22 when he passed Monteiro & got to within 0.8 of Chan on lap 47, but he was rarely closer than 1 second & had to settle for 2nd. Monteiro held on to 3rd some 13 seconds further back & then it was Zerdzinski & Jerayesh, who held off Lauda & Juhno in the closing stages.
That result for DoxJQ gave them their 8th teams title.
Belgium
Zerdzinski proved that there was still life in the old dog by taking pole; his 1st since Singapore in season 16. This race was all about the 1st 4. Hamilton would finish 5th but he was 11 seconds behind the leaders. Zerdzinski led on & off until lap 22 but the race really started around lap 33 when they all had 1 more pit stop to do. The order then was Jerayesh 1.5 Lauda 0.6 Zerdzinski 0.9 Mansell. The 1st change came 2 laps later when Mansell passed Zerdzinski. They all stopped on laps 37 & 38 & it was Zerdzinski who ruled himself out 1st by slowly falling back from Mansell. Jerayesh emerged 2nd but Mansell pounced immediately to seal the finishing order.
That result for Doxjq gave them their 9th drivers title. They just needed to decide which of their drivers would win it. Behind them the battles continued for best of the rest & as you can see the fight for 3rd driver was particularly close.
The points:
Drivers: Mansell 243, Lauda 228, Juhno 87, Jerayesh 83, Zerdzinski 81, Chan 81.
Teams: DoxJQ 471, RS 168, KP 135, PLM 121, EJTM 85.
Italy
Monteiro took pole with the 1st 25 covered by 1 second. Zerdzinski from 2nd overtook him on lap 4, but they ran very closely in the opening stint with the gap just 0.6 when it was largest & Monteiro slid back passed on lap 7. Lauda was close by & he took the lead on lap 8. These 3 squabbled over the lead until Lauda hit the front on lap 12 & led to the end. Monteiro & Zerdzinski were joined in their battle for 2nd by Mansell & it took until lap 21 for that to be decided in Mansell's favour. Monteiro & Zerdzinski didn't decide their fight until lap 48, in favour of Zerdzinski & Hamilton was 5th from 12th on the grid.
Singapore
Qualifying was wet here & Juhno was on pole with the 1st 16 covered by 1 second. DoxJQ obliterated the opposition here. They managed the changing conditions brilliantly; the rain stopped on lap 29 & were some 18 seconds ahead of the rest at the finish. Mansell was ahead of Lauda, with Hamilton a distant 3rd. Zerdzinski & Monteiro rejoined their battling this time for 4th, which Monteiro won convincingly.
The points:
Drivers: Mansell 286, Lauda 271, Zerdzinski 104, Jerayesh 99, Monteiro 94.
Teams: DoxJQ 557, KP 176, RS 168, PLM 145, EJTM 112.
Japan
Juhno had the pole again & 1 second covered the top 18. Mansell was 7th on the grid but his performance here was mighty. He was 2nd by lap 3 & led on lap 11. He had 14 seconds over the rest at the end & never had it looked so easy. Jerayesh & Juhno battled throughout for 2nd with Juhno falling back in his last stint. Lauda was a further 2.3 seconds behind in 4th & Schmidt a further 2.5 seconds behind in 5th.
Mansell's victory here gave him his 2nd drivers title.
Brazil
Mansell took a wet pole, incredibly the teams 1st of the season & the 1st 22 were covered by 1 second. It stopped raining on lap 30 but this did not affect the results. The DoxJQ boys were at it again here. Mansell led every lap except 2, again managing the changing conditions well. Lauda qualified down in 13th, but steadily came through the field to be 2nd on lap 33. He was 8.6 seconds behind his team mate & 21 seconds ahead of Hamilton in 3rd. Jerayesh was 5 seconds behind his team mate & Schmidt rounded off the top 5 a further 10 seconds behind.
In the race to be 3rd in the drivers, Jerayesh now had 9 points over Zerdzinski & in the teams KP were having a strong end to the season & clinched 2nd here.
Abu Dhabi
Chan was on pole & the 1st 16 were covered by 1 second. Zerdzinski came through from the front row to take an early lead, which he held pretty much continuously until just after his final stop. Mansell had been hunting him down from lap 2, but having pitted 2 laps later took the lead on lap 48. Zerdzinski was not going to give up without a fight, but Mansell had plenty of kers left & was some 5 seconds ahead at the flag. Zerdzinski held onto 2nd despite a late charge from Hamilton. His team mate Jerayesh was 4th & Lauda rounded off the top 5.Jerayesh finishing 4th was enough to give him 3rd in the drivers title.
The final points standings:
Drivers: Mansell 361, Lauda 311, Jerayesh 141, Zerdzinski 136, Hamilton 111, Juhno 104, Monteiro 102, Chan 94.
Teams: DoxJQ 672, KP 252, RS 198, PLM 153, EJTM 150.
So Jason Lee took both titles easily again. The talk was that Lewis Goodway, coming up from Pro, would be even faster, & this did nothing to appease the other managers. Chris Louth was again best of the rest & your writer thinks that Chris has more to give. Reidj Free challenged at the front again & showed that he had the pace to mount a title challenge if he was able to attend more races. David Lyons had a poor season as did your writer. I still think that Richard Johnstone is the most likely candidate to make the jump into the elite of elite. We welcome Lisa Cosgrove to Elite & look forward once again, to some great racing.
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