UF1 Series Round 5 - Ebisu, Japan
*Nub behind da wheel : SeanLau (TsunSean/8Roku)
Qualifying was dominated once again by series leader Monster, blitzing to pole position on his final run, over half a second ahead of nearest championship rival, ltras. Newest entrant Texas qualified a respectable third ahead of a on-pace Sean.
Renaultguy qualified his highest yet on 5th, just 1 thousandth ahead of iodine^2, with his own best qualifying. Zonda pipped Dion for 7th.
In the series' lowest attendance yet, only 8 out of the 16 participated.
Hunter, Evo, Marcus, Alex, MateCZ, Gaz, S2KTS and Prasanth failed to make today's event.
Sprint Race Results : 7 LAPS
ImDion : 8th DNS (technical)
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The sprint race was one to be remembered for Texas, leading a splendid lights-to-finish victory, on his debut. The start was slightly chaotic, with little bumps into turn 2 pushing both Monster and ltras down the grid. It all came down to earth for Zonda, with a tangle with Iodine on lap 2 sending him back to last, where, unable to recover, he would finish.
Meanwhile, at the front, Texas extended his lead, as ltras passed Monster for 3rd, and set after Sean.
However, on lap 5, some aggressive defending from the Malaysian saw ltras come unstuck, with Monster now right on his gearbox.
For the final 2 laps, Monster fought past ltras, and attacked Sean into turn 4 on the final lap. However, Sean closed the door, surprising Monster, who slowed. ltras capitalised, passing the Singaporean just before the final corner, however, misjudged his braking, allowing him back past, where a short run to the finish saw him lose out by just 5 thousands of a second.
Sean pulled away to secure 2nd ahead of the pair of Monster and ltras.
Feature Race Results : 9 LAPS
ImDion : 8th DNS (technical)
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The feature race did not go smoothly as anticipated, with 3 restarts due to catastrophic incidents, mostly with lag spikes sending cars over the walls.
Third time lucky! Final restrat after a massive turn 1 crash when ltras, Monster and Sean went side by side.
The race finally got underway proper on the third attempt.
A sluggish getaway for renaultguy from 3rd allowed ltras to claim position 3 as the field ploughed to turn 2
As the drivers negotiated and exited turn 3, Renault tapped both Zonda and ltras -who had just gotten the lead, spinning him around and into last place.
As the drivers headed into the braking zone for turn 5, Iodine made a move down the inside of Renault for the lead. However, an uncanny late defensive move to cover him off resulted in Iodine spinning around, and being rear-ended by Sean. This resulted in a lag-crash between Sean and an innocent Monster, sending both of them back to the pits on only lap 1.
It wasn't a pretty sight for the championship leader, Monster.
Through all of this, however, Texas managed to slide his way to the lead, where his pace would be unmatchable to the finish.
Back in the midfield, ltras made his way past iodine on lap 3, and set after Zonda.
Making a move into turn 3 on lap 4, ltras misjudged his move and spun Zonda around. Carrying on without returning the place, ltras would receive a 5 second post-race penalty for causing a collision and illegal overtake.
One hit and around he went. The incident between ltras and Zonda over 3rd place
It was pretty much plain sailing for the middle part of the race, with Texas extending his lead, and ltras closing down Renaultguy for 2nd place. Iodine held on to 4th, with Zonda chasing him down, while Monster and SeanLau ran a lap down in 6th and 7th.
Into the last 2 laps and the battle for 2nd heated up. Renault defended his best against ltras, however, on the penultimate lap, he lost his place through a superb manouver by the Indonesian.
It was back-to-back wins for debutant Texas, again showing anything is possible in this series.
Do join us in January 7th 2017 (to be finalised) for the last race of Season 1 of this UF1 Series!
Penalties/Reprimands
renaultguy (Erratic driving behaviour) + 1 Reprimand 2/3
ltras23 (Causing a collision) +5 Seconds (Final pos P3 +0:11.07), +1 Reprimand 1/3
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Feature order revision
P2 Renaultguy
P3 ltras23
Championship Standings as of Round 5, Ebisu
1 ltras 36 ▲1
2 Monster 35 (+ 1) ▼1
3 Hunter 20 (+16) ◄
4 SeanLau 19 (+17) ▲1
5 Evo 17 (+19) ▼1
6 Marcus.K 12 (+24) ◄
-- Alex 12 ◄
-- Texas 12 ▲8
9 MateCZ 9 (+27) ▼1
10 Renaultguy 8 (+28) ▲4
11 Gaz 7 (+29) ▼2
-- S2KTS 7 ▼2
-- Prasanth 7 ▼2
14 Zonda 4 (+32) ▼2
-- Iodine 4 ◄
16 Dion 0 (+36) ▼2