Jake Goodhall medal 5000 11 years 123 days ago
Congrats to Adam for getting top prize.
And congrats to Reidj (and his wife) on his new family.
I was under the impression that when you had kids you could kiss goodbye to EVER having a good nights sleep again - lol!! :D
Andrew Hurn medal 5000 11 years 119 days ago (edited 11 years 119 days ago)
British Racing League – Elite Tier – Season 29 Review
This was our closest season ever. With four races remaining, 25 drivers & 14 teams could still have won. Experience counted in the latter stages, but the titles being won now are much more difficult than they used to be. Such is the level of competition that even some highly experienced managers were left scratching their heads at their comparative lack of performance. Qualifying left many confused too, as we had 16 different pole sitters.
The season opened as it would continue with a very close grid. Half a second covered the top 22 & the entire grid was separated by just 0.746.
That kind of sums up the entire season right there. Well done all, see you in Season 30.
Pardon? You actually want a review? Oh all right then.....
Boffo was on pole for Nathan Jefferies' Chronic team (CT) but despite a great battle he lost out on the penultimate lap to Roy from Zvezdan Tepp's Lada Racing Blue (LRB). As we get some warmer weather, there were more starters on the harder tyre & it proved fruitful on this occasion for Almeida from Matteo Capriotti's Crash Team Racing (CTR), who finished 5th from 28th on the grid. Boffo made up for it at Malaysia taking victory from 6th & Nathan looked good early on as Davi followed his team mate home in 2nd to give them an early lead in the championship.
LRB were going well too. They finished 1,2 in China; Roy winning from pole & they swept into the lead. Once again starting on the harder tyre was a good idea as Goodway from Jason Lee' Polska Moznosc (PM) was 3rd from 15th. Lewis Goodway wasn't able to attend all the races, which was fortunate for the rest of us, because when he was able to attend his Follow me on twitter team (FMOT) (sic. I wonder if anyone does?) ran at or near the front. In Bahrain he took the seasons 3rd & last 1,2 finish & this was the classification after the opening 4 races:
Drivers: Roy (LRB) 50, Boffo (CT) 43, Butler, Koskenkorva Racing (KR) 32, Niemi (FMOT) 30, Aalto (LRB) 28, Bonnet, Strata Forza Racing (SFR) 27, Jensen (CTR) 27, Glock (FMOT) 25.
Teams: LRB 78, CT 61, FMOT 55, KR 54, CTR 37, Brain GP (BGP) 28, SFR 27, PM 19.
Williams from Bruno Sousa Ferreira's Ferreira Racing (FR) came from 3rd to win in Spain with the FMOT pair 2nd & 3rd. Monaco saw another pole to flag winner, this time Anderson from Chris Louth's Singha team, (ST), just held off Evans from Clifton Cairo's Sonic Boom GTI, (SBGTI) in a thrilling dice decided on the final lap. Evans' team mate Cooper went well in Turkey where he led almost every lap, finishing some 7 seconds ahead of the rest. Klein for Adam Gosling's That Slow Much Luck Team, (TSMLT) was the leading driver starting on hard tyres, coming from 23rd to be 4th.Despite LRB's pair locking out the front row in GB, it was Cooper winning again from 7th on the grid. There were some interesting choices of strategy here, Cooper had done a normal 4 stopper starting on softs, whereas Anderson chose to do 6 stops all on softs & was 2nd. The EJ Technical Motorsport (EJTM) pair did just 3 stops on the hards coming from 30th & 32nd to finish 4th & 5th. So at the mid-point in the season the classification looked like this:
Drivers: Cooper (SBGTI) 65, Butler (KR) 59, Anderson (ST) 51, Roy (LRB) 50, Niemi (FMOT) 47, Aalto (LRB) 46, Klein (TSMLT) 46, Boffo (CT) 44, Glock (FMOT) 43, Williams (FR) 43.
Teams: LRB 96, SBGTI 93, FMOT 90, KR 83, CT 66, TSMLT 62, ST 57, BGP 49, FR 46.
Germany saw the first victory of the season for TSMLT, Klein came from 4th on the grid. But he had to work for it. Carlstedt (ST), led going into the final stint, but lost out to Klein with 3 laps to go; the gap across the line was just 0.895. Niemi was the 5th to convert pole into victory at Hungary and made it look ridiculously easy.
In Spain (Europe) Novak (SFR) was on pole & after an astonishing opening lap, after which he led by 3.5 seconds, he too won easily, by 7.5 seconds. His team mate came from 29th to be 8th but at the top of the points battle, there was a significant change. Klein (TSMLT) finished 3rd, but his top 7 rivals managed just 1 point & in the teams TSMLT was the only one of the top 4 to score. Was this a sign of things to come?
Yes it was. Klein won in Belgium from 14th on the grid & his team mate Weber, the current drivers champion came from 20th to be 5th. In the space of 2 races TSMLT had taken the lead in both championships & given their performance last season, it was going to take a supreme effort from another team to challenge them. The classification after 12 races:
Drivers: Klein (TSMLT) 113, Butler (KR) 75, Niemi (FMOT) 72, Cooper (SBGTI) 71, Mand (EJTM) 59, Palmer (EJTM) 57, Boffo (CT) 56, Anderson (ST) 53, Weber (TSMLT) 51.
Teams: TSMLT 164, SBGTI 122, FMOT 116, EJTM 116, KR 105, LRB 96, CT 88, TR 83, ST 80.
SBGTI took the win & 4th in Italy as they emerged from the pack in an attempt to compete with TSMLT. Evans came from 17th on the grid to win; astonishing, surely the drive of the season. For TSMLT Weber was 2nd & Klein was 6th. These 2 teams had separated themselves from the pack & led the way in Singapore too. In a sensational battle the top 3 finished just 0.641 apart. Klein won it from pole, with the SBGTI pair 2nd & 3rd. Weber was in 4th & these 4 were 6 seconds ahead of the rest. These 2 teams would fight for the laurels, but with 3 races to go, 8 drivers & 5 teams could still win the championships.
SBGTI trailed by 35 points going into Japan but with Klein following Bonnet (SFR) home in 2nd it looked more & more as though Clifton would have to settle for 2nd. His duo were 5th & 10th, whilst Weber finished 9th. Evans gave some hope by taking pole in Brazil, but Adam got the killer blow by winning & keeping Evans in 2nd. Cooper was 10th & Klein 8th, which gave Adam his 6th Teams title & that 8th place gave Klein his 1st drivers championship the teams 6th.
There was the usual end of season fun in Abu Dhabi, but there was no rest for TSMLT, as Klein took pole & the win. In other news I finished 6th & 7th to take 3rd in the teams title.
The final classification:
Drivers: Klein 180, Weber 136, Cooper 116, Evans 112, Niemi (FMOT) 87, Butler (KR) 87, Palmer (EJTM) 83, Mand (EJTM) 79, De Bakker (TR) 63, Bonnet (SFR) 62, Boffo (CT) 56.
Teams: TSMLT 316, SBGTI 228, EJTM 162, FMOT 141, KR 135, SFR 112, TR 109.
I spoke to Adam. A repeat for you of last season & you are the new world #1, well done.
“Thank you. For sure, it's a good feeling to go into holidays after a good run. For sure I will hope that it continues when I return.”
This was our closest season ever & yet you managed to dominate the 2nd half. What was it that gave you the edge?
“For sure my design & development was key & I have a great record at Brazil, so for sure it was going to be tough for Clifton.”
Thank you Adam.
In our Rookie tier, Tony Mays took both titles & David Han was also promoted.
In Pro, Jonas Blixt took both titles with 7 wins & Pete Valley was also promoted.
So what of season 30? Well with Jeff Wolff & Adam away on holiday, Clifton is the highest ranked person in the league. He has come close twice recently & must be the person to beat. The last couple of seasons also show that you don't necessarily have to start well as you can make up any gap in the 2nd half of the season.
All I can be sure of, as usual, is that there will be some great racing.
Edwin Smith
Andrew Hurn medal 5000 11 years 105 days ago
WINNERS Season 30
Rookie - Phil Kipperman wins the championship with 8 wins & Paul Reyes is also promoted with 6 wins
Pro - Ben Garcka wins the championship with 13 wins, (which is showing off) & Anthony Davies is promoted back into Elite with 3 wins
Elite - Clifton Cairo wins the championship with 6 wins & Josh Brain wins the other 100 ranking points with 2 wins
Congratulations to you all
Andrew Hurn medal 5000 11 years 101 days ago (edited 11 years 101 days ago)
British Racing League – Elite Tier – Season 30 Review
There I was last season, banging on about how close it was & that we were unlikely to see anyone dominating again. I was also talking about the importance of qualifying, but only 4 times this season did the pole sitter convert & in the second half of the season we saw some winning from well down the grid. One thing remained certain though, which was the importance of consistency. The winning team scored points in every round, they were the only ones to do so & in the drivers title the winning driver had just one non scoring finish.
Webber for Yuri Kasdorp's Peeters Development team (PD) got the season under way taking pole & the win by 8 seconds in Australia & he won again by an astonishing 14 seconds in Malaysia. Clifton Cairo's Sonic Boom GTi team (SB) had scored well too & they led the challengers. The Volvo Amazon team of Jonas Blixt managed 6th place in Australia, their only points of the season & these would prove to be crucial in keeping him out of the relegation zone.
Evans (SB) had been 3rd & 4th in the openers but now stepped up onto the top spot with back-to-back victories in China & Bahrain. Cooper followed his team mate home from pole at Bahrain & with PD getting 18 points from these 2nd two races, SB already had a 44 point lead. In the drivers title Evans had a 19 point lead over Webber, with Cooper a further 22 points back. Cooper was on pole again at Spain, but the drive of the season came from Josh Brain's Laci who started on the harder tyre from 21st on the grid coming through to win by 6 seconds. His team mate Moustaoui was 4th & this really kick started Brain GP's (BGP) season. From here they scored in every round except one.
Zhu from Reidj Free's Scuderia at Work team, (SAW) was on pole in Monaco by over a tenth, the largest gap here that I could find & he promptly disappeared into the distance, winning by almost 15 seconds. Again there was a stand-out performance from BGP, Moustaoui coming from 20th to 3rd & they say you cannot overtake at Monaco....
Turkey saw the 3rd pole conversion, Oliveira from Bruno Sousa Ferreira's, Ferreira Racing (FR) leading his team mate over the line for a brilliant one, two. Again this season in Great Britain there were a mixture of strategies being employed, but it was SB who chose best taking another one, two finish. Until this point the driver on pole had finished 1st or 2nd, but Williams (FR), fell to an unfortunate 17th & from here on taking pole was no guarantee of points. The classification at the halfway point of the season:
Drivers: Evans (SB) 131, Cooper (SB) 80, Webber (PD) 74, Zhu (SAW) 67, Oliveira (FR) 59.
Teams: SB 211, PD 87, SAW 82, BGP 82, FR 77, Chris Louth's, MyFiatPunto (MFP) 70.
Germany saw the only rain of the season & since it began so near to the start, everyone was still on slicks. Sami Tuukkanen's Koskenkorva Racing (KR) locked out the front row, but Sami was absent from this race & the changeable conditions saw his pair slide out of the points. It stopped raining on lap 43 which resulted in the usual challenge of whether to carry on for a bit or pitting immediately. Reidj Free managed the situation best & Zhu splashed round to win.
Hungary was a thriller; Evans battling with Reiss from Jason Lee's Polska Moznosc (PM). Reiss led with 5 laps to go, but Evans was closing the gap. He got to within half a second, but Reiss held on. It seemed that every race had one of the Sonic Boom drivers at the front & there was no change in Spain (Europe). Cooper was on fire here, winning by almost 10 seconds & he duly won again in Belgium. Finally it seemed that Clifton was going to get his reward after coming second last season & being so cruelly denied at the final round back in season 26.
In the battle for 2nd place & those other 100 ranking points it was BGP versus SAW & after the Belgian result BGP were 9 points ahead. Josh increased that gap in Italy as Moustaoui came from 19th on the grid to win; the teams 2nd astonishing win of the season. Laci was 4th, with the SAW pair in 3rd & 5th so the gap was extended to 21 points.
Singapore saw a change to a different time, a forgotten time, a time long long ago..... Some would not remember it fondly while others were not around to remember it at all. Indeed some were disappointed that the carpet of time had been lifted to allow the dust of seasons past to see the harsh light of day again thus exposing themselves to the wailing & gnashing of teeth it would bring. Basically, I won. Yes yes I know.....thank you all........the old dog can be taught new tricks......it's ok you can sit down now.....you are too kind.
Clifton clinched the teams title here & the only person who could beat Evans to the drivers title now was his team mate. In the race for 2nd, BGP managed only a point, whilst SAW were 4th & Brain's lead was cut to 10 points.
Japan saw another breathtaking finish; this time between FR & PM. FR locked out the front row & Oliveira led for much of the way, until he emerged from is final pit stop behind Goodway (PM) who had qualified 10th. On the penultimate lap the gap came down to 0.28, but Goodway held on. In the battle for second BGP failed to score but SAW were 3rd & 5th & now led by 15 points.
Moustaoui took his 2nd pole in 3 races in Brazil, but Evans was much too good & this was his 4th win of the season. Moustaoui & Laci were 2nd & 3rd which meant they were back ahead by 18 points. FMOT finished the season strongly with a 1,2 finish in Abu Dhabi & with Moustaoui following them home in 3rd, Josh clinched 2nd place. The final classification:
Drivers: Evans 230, Cooper 190, Zhu 134, Moustaoui 124, Laci 113, Webber 98, Meyer 81.
Teams: SB 420, BGP 236, SAW 215, PD 138, EJTM 128, MFP 124, FMOT 119.
This was Clifton's 7th teams title. It was Evans' 2nd drivers championship & the 7th for the team. I spoke with Clifton about his season:
“For sure I am delighted that things worked out for me this season. I will never forget season 26, but for sure this season is my redemption. These are my first titles in this league & I hope for sure to have some more.”
You are the new world #3, tell us how that feels.
“For sure it feels great. I already have my eyes set on Jeff to take his place in 2nd, but for sure it will be hard to keep my position with Jason right behind me.”
Thank you Clifton & congratulations.
I also spoke with Josh Brain about his season:
“For sure, I am happy to be 2nd. I missed the opening 4 races of the season so for sure I knew it was going to be hard to win the championship. But even if I had been present for all the races for sure Clifton was on another level.”
You scored in every round but 1 after Spain, what was the key to that?
“For sure I have learnt a lot since joining this league & for sure I have improved at dealing with a poor qualifying. I hope I can be as competitive next season.”
Thank you Josh & congratulations to you too.
Once again someone who promoted to Elite, went straight back to Pro without scoring a point. I hope this will not put Pete off & we hope to see him in Elite again soon. We have one of the most competitive Elite tiers & clearly there is a significant gap between it & Pro. Jonas was lucky to stay up & he scored 8 points. I have a feeling though that this seasons promotees might fair better, since they are both former regulars in Elite.
In Pro Ben Garcka won both titles with 13 wins & Anthony Davies also promoted with 3 wins.
In Rookie Phil Kipperman (aka ?) won both titles with 8 wins & Paul Reyes was also promoted with 6 wins.
Congratulations to you all.
Our award for any type of particularly special achievement, Le Prix de Lyon, is awarded to Clifton Cairo. To lose so cruelly back in season 26 would have crushed many, but Clifton has come back stronger & richly deserves his success this season. Well done Clifton.
So what of next season I hear you cry. Oh alright then. For me, Clifton is still the man to beat, but as Josh said, he learnt a lot from this season & I expect him to be challenging at the front too. However, all in the tier are proven winners & I think it will come down again to consistency.
All I can be sure of, as always, is that there will be some great racing.
Edwin Smith
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