by Wizzie » 02 Mar 2012, 22:12
2014 F2RWRS Federal Express Indianapolis 100 - Race
POSITIVES
Jones Italia - As massive attrition struck the field in one of the coldest races in Indianapolis history, the Jones Italia team were the only team to get both cars to the finish in one piece and were duly rewarded with a 1-2 as a result. Terry Hawkin was simply superlative all weekend and out of the classified finishers (all six of them), he was the one who relied on luck the least as once Hansuke Shioya's engine blew up and Mitchell Macklin and Jason Hamilton finding troubles of their own. Marco Bizzarri survived the race and with help from the three-stopping Rosco Vantini finding the turn 3 wall on the final lap got second place as a result.
NEGATIVES
Everyone Else except Jason Hamilton - Since the race was quite possibly the biggest showing of ineptitude in human history, it's very hard to summaries it all. Let's start off with the polesitter Hansuke Shioya and his team. Shioya lost the start to Macklin but got back past with his superior straightline speed and proceeded to build a small gap before his BMW engine blew up spectacularly on lap 4, ending his afternoon. Bastiaan van Nieuwenhuijzen on the other hand managed to scrape through all the madness relatively unscathed until he became one of the many victims of the turn 3 wall whilst on track for a very safe handful of points. Aston Martin are next up with the two comically colliding with each other at turn 3 early on which forced Andrej Kremnicky into retirement and forced Alessandro Marchesi to the back of the field. Sheer dumb luck alone got him his eventual podium finish.
The champions are next up as Mitchell Macklin became one of 3 people in about 2 laps to end up planting it into the turn 3 wall at around the one-third distance mark whilst well in contention for the win and ended up being one of many people having to visit the stewards' room that night. Marie Simon booked a first class ticket to said room for her involvement in the Hamilton collision which could mean the end of her career at MRT at least. Tommy Nash was another one who found the turn 3 wall while the less said about the Gillet team, the better as their two inept drivers guaranteed they'd be the "fall team" for pre-qualifying next year on a day where simply keeping it on the straight and narrow was more imperative than anywhere else.
Over at Rising Ashes, it was the same story as usual with Niko Bellic being anonymous before damaging his front wing in the Hamilton/Simon accident before having his race ended a few laps later by the turn 3 magnet while Tanner Jason's season ended in a fireball when his BMW powerplant also gave way. Beirao Portugal had a similar story with Alberto Cara making his way into a solid points position from his utter crap starting position before he too found the wall while Catarina Lopes spent all weekend basically confirming that she'd be the only driver who started every race to not score a point. Hydook also had a similar story of woe with Johannes Rueckert being strangely off-colour and mired in the midfield before his accident while rookie Enrico Molinaro was well on track to a solid result before his engine also gave way.
This now leaves us with two teams. Falik Arrows and Simpson Motorsport. By all rights, Rosco Vantini could have, should have and would have finished 2nd despite making one more stop than everyone else except he threw it into the wall with less than a mile to go which not only cost him second to Bizzarri but removed himself from the podium completely. Yuka Katayama lost over half a lap early on with a spin after a collision with Van Nieuwenhiujzen and failed to register a blip on the radar for the rest of the race as she sneaked into 5th place. Over at Simpson Motorsport and Dave Anderson was creating his own luck for once. None of it was good as he became one of the many turn 3 victims before half-distance after losing a lap trying to negotiate his way around the crawling cars of Rueckert and Macklin. Michael Robertson was 2 laps down in 6th place but he also scored fastest lap of the race in the process but not before attempting to take the record for most times on two wheels in one race.
Results:
1. T. Hawkin (Jones Italia): 1h 16m 28.866
2. M. Bizzarri (Jones Italia): +19.223
3. A. Marchesi (Aston Martin): +35.914
4. R. Vantini (Falik Arrows): +1 LAP*#
5. Y. Katayama (Falik Arrows): +1 LAP
6. M. Robertson (Simpson): +2 LAPS
DNF. B. Van Nieuwenhuijzen (KitKat): Accident
DNF. E. Molinaro (Hydook): Engine
DNF. D. Anderson (Simpson): Accident
DNF. M. Macklin (MRT): Accident#
DNF. W. Lamberigts (Gillet): Accident
DNF. J. Rueckert (Hydook): Accident#
DNF. T. Jason (Rising Ashes): Engine
DNF. N. Bellic (Rising Ashes): Accident
DNF. A. Cara (Beirao): Accident#
DNF. L. Seron (Gillet): Accident
DNF. J. Hamilton (Young Lions): Collision
DNF. M. Simon MRT): Accident#
DNF. C. Lopes (Beirao): Transmission
DNF. T. Nash (Young Lions): Accident#
DNF. A. Kremnicky (Aston Martin): Collision#
DNF. H. Shioya (KitKat): Engine
*Didn't finish but completed over 90% race distance
#Under investigation by stewards
Pole: H. Shioya (KitKat): 43.500
Fastest Lap: M. Robertson (Simpson): 44.006
Reject of the Race: Everyone bar Jones Italia/Jason Hamilton: Incompetence Inc affects grid
Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race: Jones Italia - Ends testing partnership on very high note
Leaders: M. Macklin: 1, 26-30 (Total 5)
H. Shioya: 2-3 (Total: 2)
R. Vantini: 4-25, 37-55, 72-76 (Total: 46)
T. Hawkin: 31-36, 56-71, 77-100 (Total: 47)
DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP:
1. M. Macklin (MRT): 93 points (5 wins, 3 2nds, 1 3rd) (Series Champion)
2. R. Vantini (Falik Arrows): 63 points (1 win, 3 2nds, 1 3rd)
3. M. Simon (MRT): 59 points (1 win, 4 2nds, 2 3rds)
4. A. Cara (Beirao): 56 points (2 wins, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
5. A. Marchesi (Aston Martin): 37 points (2 3rds)
6. T. Hawkin (Gillet/Jones Italia): 35 points (1 win, 4 3rds)
7. A. Kremnicky (Aston Martin): 32 points (3 wins)
8. M. Robertson (Simpson): 30 points (1 3rd)
9. J. Rueckert (Hydook): 27 points (1 2nd)
10. T. Jason (Rising Ashes): 25 points (1 2nd, 2 3rds)
11. J. Hamilton (Young Lions): 22 points (1 3rd)
12. M. Bizzarri (Trueba/Jones Italia): 21 points (1 2nd)
13. T. Nash (Young Lions): 17 points (1 win)
14. H. Shioya (KitKat): 14 points (1 win)
15. M. Glotch (Aston Martin): 14 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
16. N. Bellic (Rising Ashes): 13 points (Best Results: 2 4ths)
17. W. Lamberigts (Gillet): 12 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
18. S. Morgan (Falik Arrows): 9 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
19. A. Bosevic (Hydook): 8 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
20. Y. Katayama (Falik Arrows): 7 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
21. B. Van Nieuwenhuijzen (KitKat): 5 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
22. E. Swerts (Falik Arrows): 5 points (Best Result: 1 4th)
23. G. Liquor (Young Lions): 4 points (Best Result: 1 5th)
24. R. Souto Maior (Rising Ashes): 3 points (Best Result: 1 6th)
25. D. Anderson (Simpson): 2 points (Best Result: 2 8ths)
26. C. Lopes (Beirao): 0 points (Best Results: 1 9th, 2 10ths)
27. L. Seron (Gillet): 0 points (Best Results: 1 9th, 1 12th)
28. C. O'Heagan (Jones Italia): 0 points (Best Results: 1 9th, 1 14th)
29. G. Okorie (KitKat): 0 points (Best Result: 1 10th)
30. D. Lei (Trueba): 0 points (Best Result: 2 11ths)
31. P. McCracken (KitKat): 0 points (Best Result: 1 14th)
32. E. Molinaro (Hydook): 0 points (Best Result: 1 DNF)
TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP:
1. Virgin Melrose Racing Team: 152 points (6 wins, 7 2nds, 3 3rds) (Series Champions)
2. Falik Arrows: 84 points (1 win, 3 2nds, 1 3rd)
3. Aston Martin Motor Racing: 83 points (3 wins, 2 3rds)
4. Licor Beirão Portugal Racing: 56 points (2 wins, 2 2nds, 1 3rd)
5. Trueba Junior Team/Scuderia Jones Italia: 44 points (1 win, 1 2nd, 2 3rds)
6. Holden Young Lions: 43 points (1 win, 1 3rd)
7. Red Bull Rising Ashes F2RWRS Team: 41 points (1 2nd, 2 3rds)
8. Hydook Racing Team: 35 points (1 2nd)
9. Simpson Motorsports: 32 points (1 3rd)
10. Group Lotus Professional Ecurie Nationale Belge - Gillet: 24 points (2 3rds)
11. Kit-Kat Warriors: 19 points (1 win)
Martin Brundle, at the 2005 San Marino GP wrote:You can sort of imagine in four or five years time talking about these guys we've got on the front two rows of the grid today, can't you? They're very much the future of Grand Prix Racing.