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Formula Sprint 2
Japanese Grand Prix
Suzuka International Racing Course
Tuesday 2nd of April 2024 19:00:00
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March 14, 2012
Published on tags: Formula Challenge
Round 2 of the UltraNet Networks Formula Challenge was held at Circuit Assen in the Netherlands, a track mostly used for motorbikes but which has held Champ Car World Series Championship races as well. This event saw the first race for the United Racers Motorsport team, who shipped the URM01 to the circuit as soon as possible for a shakedown to make sure everything was ok with the car.


The drivers standings going in to the race showed Jim Parises in first due to a 1st and a 2nd place finish in Brands Hatch, then Gaczella, Roy Schroten, Teien, Vaananen, Abbas, McNaughton following. It was also close in the Constructors' Championship with Storm leading Torrent by just two points.


Severe anti-cuts were put in place by GPVWC staff at the circuit meaning the drivers were heavily discouraged to cut the corners and gain an advantage in any session.


Final practice results showed that it would be a very close competition between Parises McNaughton and Gaczella with the first two setting the same lap time briefly before Gaczella trumped them in the dying seconds of FP. It also showed that it would also be a close midfield battle with 6th to 15th place covered by a second. Superleague drivers Bart De Vos and Jason Muscat were both driving for Wicked Fox as reserve drivers for this event. SL drivers are only allowed to stand in for 3 races per half season as the FC is a feeder series for beginners to simracing and GPVWC.

Qualifying saw an interesting twist as the pole prediction guy for many people (Jim Parises) could only manage 4th, Gaczella qualified on pole with a 142.035, with Teinen 0.3 seconds off, it was then very close between 3rd and 4th positions with McNaughton marginally outperforming Parises to take 3rd.

The feature race duration was 26 laps. Into turn one Jarl overtook Gaczella, Mclean half-spun it and lost multiple places, eventually ending up in 9th. McNaughton was up to 3rd with Parises still in 4th. Into the final chicane the commentators curse kicked in and Teien made a mistake with Gaczealla being able to retake the lead. De Vos lost his front wing and pitted on lap 1. There was quite a large field spread after lap 1. The battle for the lead really started to hot up at the end of lap 2 with Teien trying to take back the lead he earned with a better start. Parise now in 3rd did the fastest lap on lap 3 and really caught up with Teinen and challenged him for position at the beginning of lap 4.


Unfortunately Dale Stones was not racing up front, he crashed on the warmup lap and decided to start from the pitlane, but because the lights were on so long, he went through on a red and got DQ'd. Andrew Morgan was racing for the first time in the GPVWC and he impressivly managed to finish 6th after being what he called "the Trulli train" he showed he had great potential for the rest of this season. It seemed a lot of drivers miscalculated the amount of fuel needed for the race, with some of the drivers having to pit early, this meant they would not have enough fuel to finish the race and some drivers ran out with just a few laps or corners remaining. After an intense battle at the front Gaczela managed to win the feature race ahead of Teien and Parises. United Racers drivers Djemel Boukerche and Keith Storrie managed to get both cars in the top ten on the teams debut, the only other team to do this was Storm racing. Bart De Vos did not have a good race after crashing and retiring from the race, he hoped he would fair better in race 2. The fact that 13 cars managed to finish on the lead lap shows that it is a competitive grid in FC.


Race 2 is a chance for the midfield and rear-end runners to finish on the podium as the race results from Race 1 is reversed to the form the grid. This meant that James Charman would be on pole for the Sprint Race, however, after a incredibly poor start by the front row, James ended up in 5th place by turn 1. He eventually finished in 18th. Dale Stones had a much better and longer race, he finished 14th after some last lap drama but had been running in the top 10 for some of the race. Jon Mclean was one of several drivers who really grabbed the opportunity of a second race, after managing to avoid all of the accidents and making some decent overtakes, he finished 6th to take 14 points in the championship. Jarl Teinen once again managed to win the sprint race with Gaczella in 2nd, De Vos managed to turn the disappointment of race 1 into a fantastic 3rd after Jim Parises lost it at the chicane on the second to last lap whilst trying to overtake Gaczella. However, he still managed to finish 4th and take home 18 points.

So after the Assen races, Gaczella is now the man they are all trying to catch as he leads the championship by 4 points from Parises who is a further 7 points ahead of Teinen. Storm Motosport will be happy after expanding their Championship lead from 2 points to 32 points.




UltraNet Networks Formula Challenge: Dutch Grand Prix results

UltraNet Networks Formula Challenge: Standings