Jeddah Corniche Circuit

SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX

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May 31, 2012
Published on tags: Superleague
Lukas Euler bounced back from a difficult race at Monaco to take his fourth win of the season in Montreal, with teammate Nick Rowland making it another Midnight Motorsport 1-2 finish.

The GPVWC paddock made the trip to Montreal in Canada, with the championship battle a lot closer than many expected it to be after the early season dominance of Midnight Motorsport driver Lukas Euler. Instead, it was the consistently quick and reliable Nick Rowland who led the way just ahead of teammate Euler, but with Lee Morris hounding the pair, Midnight would no doubt keep having to look over their shoulders. Meanwhile, a very interesting Constructors battle had formed between Red Archer, Green Stripes Racing and Kernow Sport for the fourth, fifth and sixth positions, a battle sure to rage on for the remainder of the season. Further down the grid, Montreal saw the return to Superleague for Red 5 Racing driver Ben Morgan, after a small break away from racing.

It was business as usual for Euler in Qualifying, making it 7 pole positions out of 7 races, half a second clear of Lee Morris who took 2nd position on the grid. Jarl Teien for Nordsjoen Racing took 3rd on the grid, though would be forced to start the race from 8th on the grid after a receiving a grid penalty from the previous race. Rowland qualified 4th but lined up 3rd, with Dave Carr-Smith qualifying 5th, but also suffering from a grid penalty, would line up 10th. These penalties promoted Nijo Racing driver Ruud Heesterbeek into 4th on the grid after originally qualifying 6th, and Tom Parker for Woods Racing lined up 5th on the grid, originally qualifying 7th. Janne Tanskanen started 6th (originally 8th), Kieran Ryan had his best qualifying session of the season placing 9th, but a whole 10 place grid drop saw him have to start down in 19th. Keith Storrie also had his best qualifying session in his short career at Draig Racing, but also suffered a grid penalty. With a huge amount of penalties being carried over by numerous drivers in Monaco, it promoted Simon Cattell into 7th on the grid, Pavel Loknovski 9th, and Lewis Redshaw into 10th. Morgan's return to the cockpit had not gone well, qualifying 21st. Disappointingly, ST Racing were a complete no-show for Montreal, and Synergetic Motorsports once again fielded just one driver in the form of Ojay Clark.

With some anticipating slow getaways from the Midnight drivers as has happened in quite a few of the races this season, they were left disappointed as both Euler and Rowland had excellent starts, the latter passing Morris for 2nd place. After a brief tussle for the position, Rowland eventually pulled out a gap over Morris, and the top 2 positions were decided from there, with both Midnight Motorsport drivers relatively untroubled on their way to another dominant 1-2 finish. Meanwhile, Morris was soon to be more concerned with trying to keep Dave Carr-Smith behind him for 3rd place. A wonderful battle between the two Englishmen ensued for a number of laps, before Carr-Smith eventually won out, passing the Draig Racing driver and making it stick. The Green Stripes driver held onto his podium with delight, leaving a dejected Morris to settle for 4th place. Jarl Teien took a solid 5th place for Nordsjoen Racing, with a fairly lonely race to the line after early battles with a number of drivers. Ruud Heesterbeek took 6th for Nijo Racing, and may have challenge Teien for 5th had the race gone on for another few laps. Tanskanen took home 7th, ahead of Loknovski in 8th, Cattell 9th, and David Jundt taking the one remaining point for Red Archer VT in 10th position. Despite some pre-race concerns for some drivers regarding their brakes and how long they may last, there was a surprisingly low attrition rate, with just three retirements coming in the form of Gavin Thomas, Bart De Vos and Ben Morgan.

Moving to the championship standings, and firstly the Drivers championship, Rowland retains his lead, moving to 84 points, ahead of teammate Euler who moves back up into 2nd place on 77 points thanks to his win. Morris slips back down to 3rd on 71 points. Carr-Smith's podium elevates him into 4th on 38 points, ahead of the retired Joe Consiglio in 5th. Tanskanen holds on 6th, just 3 points ahead of Cattell, who is another 3 points ahead of Loknovski. Heesterbeek moves ever closer towards this battle thanks to his good finish here. Teien moves ahead of Parker and now rounds out the top 10. In the Constructors standings, Midnight Motorsport have an incredible 161 points, with Draig Racing their nearest challengers on just 74 points. Draig will need to be more concerned with Nordsjoen Racing on 70 points just behind them. With Teien and Loknovski consistently scoring points, this could be an interesting battle for 2nd. Green Stripes Racing move level on points with Red Archer and share 4th place, extending the gap between themselves and Kernow Sport in 6th place. Nijo Racing remain in 7th place. No points were scored between the six remaining teams below at Montreal.