2011 Monaco Grand Prix
| Race details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race {{{Race_No}}} of the 2011 Superleague season | ||
| ||
| Date | June 2nd, 2011 | |
| Official name | 2011 Monaco Grand Prix | |
| Location | Circuit de Monaco Monte Carlo, Monaco | |
| Course | Temporary Street Circuit 2.080 mi / 3.340 km | |
| Distance | 78 laps, 162.240 mi / 260.520 km | |
| Weather | Sunny | |
| Pole position | ||
| Driver |  Lee Morris
|
Draig-Ferrari |
| Time | 1:11.808 | |
| Fastest Lap | ||
| Driver | Lee Morris
|
Draig-Ferrari |
| Time | 1:12.403 | |
| Podium | ||
| First | Dave Carr-Smith
|
Midnight-Ferrari |
| Second | Ojay Clark
|
Williamson-Mercedes |
| Third |  Christoph Lichtenstein
|
Synergetic-Ferrari |
The 2011 Monaco Grand Prix for the Superleague - the eighth race of the season - took place on the Monaco track in Monte Carlo on the 2nd of June.
Contents
Report
First Start
As the GPVWC circus entered Monte Carlo, it did so in an atmosphere that was already building. With memories of Joe Consiglio's win in Magny-Cours still fresh, the tight streets of Monaco and our ever growing tally of Superleague winners this season, the small city-state promised exciting racing.
As the drivers lined up for the start, the usual suspects were at the sharp end of the grid. Lee Morris of Draig Racing set the fastest lap on his favourite track; Dave Carr-Smith of Midnight Motorsports completed the front row and Joe Consiglio of Nordsjoen Racing was set up to challenge for the win from 3rd position. As the lights phased out, Carr-Smith was quickest off the line, but an ambitious move by Morris saw the pair collide and spin into Saint Devote, leaving much of the pack with nowhere to go and the back of the grid having to take avoiding action - resulting in several drivers colliding with the wall. Lee Morris soon retired. Joe Consiglio led up the hill to casino square, followed by Sam Millar, who had managed to avoid all of the action behind. However Consiglio outbraked himself and gently slid into the wall, unfortunately being collected by an unsuspecting Millar - Consiglio's wing coming worse off in the collision. The spinning Consiglio caused no damage to any other drivers and Joe found his way back to the pits, unlike his championship rival.
Further down in the field, there were many failed attempts at passing on the notoriously difficult circuit, but the racing was admirably clean and the only casualties were those who were slightly too confident in their cars. As much of the rear end of the grid entered the pits after the turn 1 incident, Millar was now gaining a comfortable lead on Bart De Vos who had worked his way up to second through the carnage with Jason Muscat sat in third. Muscat was leading a group of four including David Jundt, Ojay Clark and Ben Morgan. Muscat span on the entrance to the tunnel and this allowed Ryan Walker to get ever closer to the group. Morgan locked up into Rascasse and the gap between the group widened. Meanwhile, up front, a mistake by Millar saw De Vos lead the race and everyone in the chasing group promoted a place. Dave Carr-Smith rejoined the race in 11th position after his lengthy pit stop.
De Vos got loose after the hairpin which gave the group yet another promotion. As lap 3 ended, David Jundt led the race, Ojay Clark was in second position and Ryan Walker sat in third. Clark set on closing the gap to Jundt through the chicane, but it wasn't to be as several more incidents through the field caused the Race Directors to take the somewhat controversial decision to red-flag the race and reassemble the grid in its original order.
Restart
As the lights went out for the second time, Carr-Smith once again got the jump on Morris, but this time it was clean and so the Midnight driver led up the hill into Casino Square. Mark Stanton was the only spinner this time after being tagged by Walker and no one else was involved. As Morris looked for a way around Carr-Smith, the rest of the field filed into order; Millar and Consiglio fought for third position but Consiglio was able to pull out a gap on the Synergetic driver. Meanwhile, Ben Warren lost his front wing in the swimming pool complex and retired in the pits with suspension damage. Lap 7 saw Morris make the move on Carr-Smith after Dave got lose and tapped the wall out of the chicane towards Rascasse. The following lap saw Morris' team mate lock up down the hill out the tunnel. An unexpecting Ben Morgan tapped Walker into a spin and led the Scotman to retire in the escape road. The next Monaco retiree was Finn Jyri Lylykorpi, who suffered a spin in Saint Devote, losing a wing and gaining suspension damage. Abdel Damghi lost a rear wing after a spin before the hairpin. Sam Millar was the next victim of Saint Devote and joined the growing list of retirements.
By lap 26 gaps had emerged between the remaining drivers. The first round of pit stops took place and Lee Morris retained his lead. After completing 27 laps, a record 14 pit stops and experiencing a problem with in-game penalties, William Ponissi spun on the exit of the swimming pool complex and was beached on a kerb, thus ending his race. As the half way point passed, there were 6 retirees and the field had spread out. David Stanton was subject to a spin on his 46th lap and retired on a kerb out of the tunnel.
Then came one of the most dramatic incidents of the season and one that would change the complexion of the race. On his 57th lap, Kieran Ryan span into Saint Devote, causing him to lose a front wing. As he made his way back to the pits, he spun again into the swimming pool complex and beached himself on a kerb. As he struggled to free himself from the relatively low kerb, Jason Muscat made his way into the complex at the exact moment that Ryan was able to free himself, the pair collided and Ryan ended up beached once more. As the race leaders approached, Joe Consiglio took a tight line through the chicane and so couldn't avoid the beached car of Ryan. Consiglio span and ended up facing the wrong way on the racing line. The race leader, Lee Morris, managed to avoid Ryan who had now been moved off the kerb and instead collided with Consiglio. All three had now lost wheels, wings and gained suspension damage. Ryan retired on the scene while Consiglio and Morris both retired on their way to the pits.
A few laps later Phil Perkins became another beached, this time at the exit of the swimming pool complex. Perkins' exit rounded off the list of retirees for the day, in which over half of the field returned to the pits early. There was no change to the order for the remaining ten drivers. The final lap saw Dave Carr-smith over the line first, Ojay Clark two laps down in second and Christoph Lichtenstein also taking his first podium of his career in third position. As the engines silenced and tyres cooled, drivers were left to reflect on the incident that lead to two of the championship contenders to be forced out of the race. Monaco had delivered what it had promised, exciting racing and controversial aftermath.
- See also: Race twitter log
Classification
Qualifying
Race
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Pitstops | Fastlap | Controller | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 | Dave Carr-Smith
|
Midnight-Renault | 78 | 1:37:03.153 | 2 | 2 | 01:12.919 | 
|
15 |
| 2 | 19 | Ojay Clark
|
Williamson-Mercedes | 76 | +2 Laps | 8 | 2 | 01:14.770 |
|
12 |
| 3 | 9 | Christoph Lichtenstein
|
Synergetic-Ferrari | 76 | +2 Laps | 16 | 2 | 01:15.193 |
|
10 |
| 4 | 3 | Mark Wicks
|
Woods-Mercedes | 76 | +2 Laps | 15 | 3 | 01:15.124 |
|
8 |
| 5 | 5 |  Jason Muscat
|
Red Archer-Renault | 75 | +3 Laps | 7 | 4 | 01:14.599 | 
|
6 |
| 6 | 23 |  Bart De Vos
|
TDR-Toyota | 75 | +3 Laps | 4 | 5 | 01:13.898 |
|
5 |
| 7 | 6 |  David Jundt
|
Red Archer-Renault | 74 | +4 Laps | 6 | 4 | 01:14.474 |
|
4 |
| 8 | 12 |  Ben Morgan
|
Computrac-BMW | 74 | +4 Laps | 11 | 7 | 01:14.587 |
|
3 |
| 9 | 7 | Mark Stanton
|
Constant-Renault | 73 | +5 Laps | 12 | 5 | 01:15.835 |
|
2 |
| 10 | 16 | Mark Fuller
|
ST-BMW | 70 | +8 Laps | 22 | 4 | 01:18.066 |
|
1 |
| Ret | 14 | Lee Morris
|
Draig-Ferrari | 61 | DNF | 1 | 2 | 01:12.403 |
|
0 |
| Ret | 2 | Joe Consiglio
|
Nordsjoen-Mercedes | 60 | DNF | 3 | 3 | 01:13.674 |
|
0 |
| Ret | 22 | Phil Perkins
|
TDR-Toyota | 60 | DNF | 18 | 3 | 01:14.901 |
|
0 |
| Ret | 4 |  Kieran Ryan
|
Woods-Mercedes | 57 | DNF | 14 | 3 | 01:14.862 |
|
0 |
| Ret | 17 | David Stanton
|
ST-BMW | 46 | DNF | 17 | 3 | 01:15.690 |
|
0 |
| Ret | 8 |  William Ponissi
|
Constant-Renault | 27 | DNF | 20 | 14 | 01:19.465 |
|
0 |
| Ret | 10 |  Sam Millar
|
Synergetic-Ferrari | 23 | DNF | 5 | 2 | 01:13.322 | 
|
0 |
| Ret | 21 |  Abdel Damghi
|
Nijo-Toyota | 19 | DNF | 13 | 1 | 01:15.247 |
|
0 |
| Ret | 0 |  Jyri Lylykorpi
|
Nordsjoen-Mercedes | 8 | DNF | 9 | 0 | 01:15.016 |
|
0 |
| Ret | 15 | Ryan Walker
|
Draig-Ferrari | 7 | DNF | 10 | 0 | 01:15.341 |
|
0 |
| Ret | 20 | Ben Warren
|
Nijo-Toyota | 3 | DNF | 19 | 1 | 01:17.500 |
|
0 |
| - | 18 | Teemu Toikka
|
Williamson-Mercedes | 0 | DNS | 21 | 0 | - |
|
0 |
Standings after the Race
|
|
External Links
Gallery of race images (Facebook)
| Preceded by: 2011 French Grand Prix |
2011 Monaco Grand Prix 2011 |
Succeeded by: 2011 British Grand Prix |
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