2016 F1 Rejects IndyCar Series season

[pi314159]

How has it happened that Mazzacane is at Pocono, when he should be at Spa competing in the Super Touring Cup? I can't remember agreeing on any IndyCar appearances for him apart from the Indy 500. I don't want to blame anyone, maybe there was a misunderstanding. But this situation needs to be fixed. I suggest to replace him with Thiago for Pocono, since Thiago hasn'tbeen doing anything that weekend.

And please find a replacement for the rest of the season, since both José Pablo and Thiago are busy.

[mike robers]

Um, is this thread dead? Or will the season continue?

[Ferrarist]

Some of you have already read it in the IRC chat, but I'm also gonna announce it here:

I'm going to stop running the IndyCar Series with immediate effect. If someone's interested in ending the season, I can provide him with the necessary xkoranate data. But right now, I've got too many issues in RL that I simply can't be bothered to spare time for this. I'm sorry that I had to end it that way and I hope that someone can carry on with IndyCar.

Regards
Ferrarist

[pasta_maldonado]

Some of you have already read it in the IRC chat, but I'm also gonna announce it here:

I'm going to stop running the IndyCar Series with immediate effect. If someone's interested in ending the season, I can provide him with the necessary xkoranate data. But right now, I've got too many issues in RL that I simply can't be bothered to spare time for this. I'm sorry that I had to end it that way and I hope that someone can carry on with IndyCar.

Regards
Ferrarist

I'd like to take over the running of ICS, finishing off 2016 in xkorante before switching to rFactor for 2017 and beyond. Could you post the xkorante files and necessary information?

[HawkAussie]

Some of you have already read it in the IRC chat, but I'm also gonna announce it here:

I'm going to stop running the IndyCar Series with immediate effect. If someone's interested in ending the season, I can provide him with the necessary xkoranate data. But right now, I've got too many issues in RL that I simply can't be bothered to spare time for this. I'm sorry that I had to end it that way and I hope that someone can carry on with IndyCar.

Regards
Ferrarist

I'd like to take over the running of ICS, finishing off 2011 in xkorante before switching to rFactor for 2017 and beyond. Could you post the xkorante files and necessary information?

You mean 2016 right

[DemocalypseNow]

Onwards the F1RICS marches, into the final stretch of the season; four road courses back to back, starting off in Canada. This is the Molson Indy Montreal.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve - FP1 Result

Code: Select all

 1 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:24.547
 2 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:24.578
 3 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:24.651
 4 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:24.718
 5 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:24.740
 6 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           1:24.870
 7 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:24.899
 8 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:24.913
 9 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:24.942
10 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:25.030
11 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:25.105
12 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:25.190
13 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:25.307
14 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:25.328
15 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:25.369
16 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:25.389
17 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:25.754
18 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:25.767
19 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:25.853
20 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:25.882
21 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:26.080
22 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:26.240
23 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:26.243
24 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                  1:26.327
25 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:26.394
26 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:26.765
27 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:26.823
28 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:27.013
29 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:27.056
30 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:27.568
31 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:28.278
32 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:28.555
33 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:28.556
34 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:28.601
35 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:29.686
36 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:30.086
37 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:31.082
38 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:31.930

FP2 Result

Code: Select all

 1 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:24.322
 2 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:24.358
 3 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:24.425
 4 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:24.435
 5 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:24.834
 6 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:24.874
 7 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:25.117
 8 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:25.146
 9 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:25.239
10 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:25.278
11 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:25.297
12 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:25.300
13 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:25.331
14 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:25.449
15 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:25.487
16 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:25.659
17 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:25.776
18 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:26.006
19 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:26.109
20 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:26.125
21 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:26.126
22 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:26.203
23 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:26.478
24 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:26.567
25 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:26.592
26 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:26.724
27 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                  1:26.874
28 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:26.988
29 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           1:27.056
30 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:27.158
31 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:27.286
32 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:27.726
33 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:27.732
34 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:28.328
35 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:28.343
36 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:29.487
37 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:31.441
38 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:31.462

James James Davies is getting in the mix amongst the championship contenders, will he spoil their day in quali?

Q1 Result

Code: Select all

 1 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           1:24.301
 2 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:24.432
 3 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:24.473
 4 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:24.488
 5 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:24.552
 6 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:24.744
 7 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:24.775
 8 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:24.800
 9 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:24.834
10 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                  1:24.862
11 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:24.984
12 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:25.107
13 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:25.130
14 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:25.299
15 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:25.679
16 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:25.732
17 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:25.804
18 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:25.847
19 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:25.923
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
20 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:25.938
21 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:25.984
22 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:26.031
23 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:26.054
24 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:26.320
25 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:26.327
26 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:26.405
27 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:26.476
28 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:26.791
29 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:26.884
30 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:27.035
31 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:27.356
32 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:27.473
33 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:27.760
34 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:27.893
35 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:30.218
36 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:30.507
37 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:31.051
38 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:33.720

As expected, it's very much Mastercard Lola vs Cassidy Racing at the front, Christopherson and Pratchett sandwiching the two lead Cassidy cars. Only seven more guys can make it through to the race via Q2....

Q2 Result

Code: Select all

 1 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:24.493
 2 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:25.532
 3 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:25.534
 4 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:25.708
 5 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:26.276
 6 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:26.422
 7 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:26.457
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 8 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:26.571
 9 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:26.644
10 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:27.225
11 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:27.243
12 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:27.593
13 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:27.877
14 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:27.891
15 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:28.025
16 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:29.704
17 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:30.371
18 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:30.929
19 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:32.332

Martin van der Meyde was a surprise DNQ from the first session, but he easily makes the race in Q2, albeit starting from 20th on the grid, despite setting a time good enough for P5 had it been done in Q1. Only Phil McCracken stops a complete embarrasment for Hasselhoff Motorsport, seperating their two cars at the foot of the timesheets.

[DemocalypseNow]

And now the Molson Indy Montreal race result. Thank you SQL database character limit, for making me spread this over two posts. Thank you so much.

RACE RESULT - MOLSON INDY MONTREAL - CIRCUIT GILLES VILLENEUVE

Code: Select all

 1 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:49:20.976
 2 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:49:28.676
 3 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:49:47.661
 4 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:49:50.676
 5 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:49:56.194
 6 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:50:04.196
 7 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:50:27.739
 8 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:50:31.764
 9 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:50:32.477
10 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:50:45.451
11 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:50:46.897
12 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:50:53.063
13 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                           -1 lap
14 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)            -1 lap
15 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)         -1 lap
16 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                             -1 lap
17 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)                 -1 lap
18 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                        -2 laps
19 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                        -2 laps
   Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                   DNF lap 56
   Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                  DNF lap 36
   Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)         DNF lap 36
   Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)              DNF lap 23
   Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                  DNF lap 21
   Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)             DNF lap 9
   Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)               DNF lap 3

As those ahead of him fell by the wayside, Collin Pratchett wins the Molson Indy Montreal! A mechanical failure for Christopherson early on put Cassidy in a great position, but Cassidy was involved in a crash when trying to lap Damon Cannon on Lap 36! They were furious but the stewards refused to apportion blame to either party. Meanwhile Ryder had a shocking race, a bad strategry combined with a lack of pace dropped her out of the Top 10 despite starting on the second row. Ryan McReynolds showed he can't be counted out, charging up from 9th to take second place. A long way back from the top two, and a miracle result for the struggling Horizon Motorsport outfit, F1RWRS crazyman Daniel Melrose took the final podium spot! Horizon had a fantastic race, with three cars in the Top 10. The same can't be said of Michael Bright Racing however - McReynolds' result aside, they had a bad weekend, JJ Davies outside the Top 10, van der Meyde a lap down and McCraken not even making the race.

Up next; Laguna Seca.

[Salamander]

That was absolutely ridiculous driving from Cannon. These aren't stock cars, dumbass! You can't just pull over on the leader like that! I have no idea what the officials were thinking, this was a clear cut case of some moron not knowing what mirrors are. Absolutely ridiculous.

[Onxy Wrecked]

I guess Roy Guidry gained the most positions in today's race. Still, it was from MasterCard Lola having no fewer than three DNFs.

[DemocalypseNow]

Laguna Seca 200
9 October 2016

Hello everybody and welcome to a sunny Laguna Seca. We come here off the back of a failure from the top title contenders to make any inroads on each other, with Ryder and Christopherson both having a horrible time in Montreal two weeks ago. Both will be looking to bounce back here this weekend, to stop the pendulum from swinging in the direction of Ryan McReynolds and Collin Pratchett as it has been of late.

FP1 Result

Code: Select all

 1 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:09.672
 2 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:09.763
 3 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:09.775
 4 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           1:09.864
 5 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:09.901
 6 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:10.000
 7 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:10.084
 8 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                  1:10.229
 9 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:10.243
10 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:10.322
11 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:10.337
12 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:10.338
13 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:10.839
14 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:10.965
15 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:11.028
16 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:11.103
17 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:11.131
18 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:11.137
19 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:11.224
20 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:11.319
21 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:11.377
22 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:11.404
23 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:11.413
24 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:11.423
25 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:11.446
26 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:11.507
27 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:11.743
28 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:11.768
29 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:11.787
30 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:11.913
31 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:12.011
32 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:12.646
33 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:13.117
34 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:13.975
35 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:14.757
36 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:14.924
37 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:16.254
38 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:17.933

Mastercard Lola have tried to make their intentions clear with this first practise performance - three of their cars in the Top 4, and with Jules Vergne in the fourth car down in 8th, but still ahead of title contender Ryan McReynolds in 9th. In fact it was a pretty bad performance all round from the non-Mastercard Lola drivers we'd expect to see at the front, with Ryder and Davies line-astern in 17th and 18th. The exception has to be van der Meyde, who has bounced back well from his atrocious performance at Montreal by squeezing in between the lead Mastercard cars.


FP2 Results

Code: Select all

 1 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:09.696
 2 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:09.790
 3 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:09.794
 4 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:09.846
 5 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:10.025
 6 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:10.161
 7 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:10.180
 8 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:10.220
 9 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                  1:10.419
10 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:10.697
11 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:10.706
12 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:10.707
13 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:10.754
14 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:10.811
15 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:10.854
16 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:10.888
17 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:11.048
18 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:11.214
19 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:11.220
20 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:11.363
21 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:11.469
22 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:11.519
23 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:11.640
24 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:11.742
25 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:12.045
26 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:12.231
27 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:12.593
28 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:12.779
29 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:12.980
30 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:12.981
31 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:13.031
32 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           1:13.325
33 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:13.634
34 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:15.143
35 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:16.065
36 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:17.447
37 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:18.760
38 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:20.666

The first thing to note about FP2 is how far off the pace Jack Christopherson Jr was - he suffered car trouble early on in the session and couldn't do much more than some initial feeler laps. He finishes the session all the way down in 32nd! JJ Davies has bounced back to go 2nd behind Cassidy though, and van der Meyde is up there as well, which is starting to make fellow Michael Bright driver and title contender Ryan McReynolds look quite bad. He follows up 9th in FP1 with 11th in FP2. Ralf Schumacher does well to bring Hasselhoff Motorsport into the mix with 8th.


Qualifying 1 Result

Code: Select all

   
 1 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:09.707
 2 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           1:09.801
 3 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:09.968
 4 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:10.166
 5 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:10.177
 6 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:10.188
 7 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:10.204
 8 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:10.222
 9 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:10.256
10 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:10.356
11 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                  1:10.375
12 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:10.510
13 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:10.859
14 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:10.975
15 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:11.057
16 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:11.105
17 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:11.111
18 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:11.197
19 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:11.216
---------------------------------------------------------------------
20 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:11.282
21 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:11.380
22 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:11.556
23 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:11.606
24 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:11.638
25 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:11.787
26 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:12.078
27 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:12.478
28 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:12.608
29 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:12.638
30 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:12.749
31 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:12.896
32 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:12.990
33 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:13.681
34 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:13.919
35 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:14.653
36 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:15.467
37 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:15.923
38 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:16.676

A shocking performance by Cassidy, and a dominant one by Mastercard Lola! While the Italian team emulate their FP1 performance by taking three of the first four places, the Cassidys are in the middle of nowhere! Cassidy herself is the first of them in 12th, with championship leader Ryder following in 14th, and Hillman in the third car all the way down in 24th! He will have to qualify his way in still through Q2 to make the race. IIDOTQ must go to Dean O'Lauchlan, he's done a good job to drag the Euromotor car to 8th on the grid, benefiting greatly from Cassidy's failure in Q1.


Qualifying 2 Results

Code: Select all

 1 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:10.038
 2 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:11.118
 3 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:11.277
 4 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:11.297
 5 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:11.535
 6 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:11.784
 7 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:12.244
------------------------------------------------------------------
 8 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:12.638
 9 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:12.878
10 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:12.948
11 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:13.003
12 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:13.048
13 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:13.061
14 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:13.110
15 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:13.329
16 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:14.855
17 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:16.271
18 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:17.197
19 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:17.265

The biggest surprise thrown by Q2 was Lance Vance failing to redeem himself following a poor Q1 effort - he didn't just miss the cut for the race, he was miles away from doing so. David Lee and Roy Guidry can also be considered surprise DNQs for this event.


Race Result

Code: Select all

 1 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              2:03:00.512
 2 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             2:03:18.692
 3 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           2:03:52.408
 4 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           2:03:57.433
 5 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                       -1 lap
 6 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)              -1 lap
 7 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)              -1 lap
 8 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                           -1 lap
 9 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                      -1 lap
10 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)                  -1 lap
11 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                     -1 lap
12 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                      -2 laps
13 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                      -2 laps
14 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)         -2 laps
15 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)        -2 laps
 - Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)             DNF lap 73
   J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)             DNF lap 56
   Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)         DNF lap 43
   Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         DNF lap 42
   Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)        DNF lap 39
   Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)          DNF lap 33
   Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)                DNF lap 33
   Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                   DNF lap 29
   Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                  DNF lap 25
   Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)              DNF lap 17
   Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)               DNF lap 7

The race was delayed for some time, after a huge first lap crash at the Corkscrew wiped out half the field. The pileup was so bad in fact that Antonio Reyna-Sanchez, who started from 25th position, ended Lap 1 as the leader! Almost everyone else was limping with damage or was stranded in the middle of the track, so the call was made to red flag the race and start over.

Laguna Seca turned out to be a race of attrition - and the team that weathered the storm best was Mastercard Lola. All their rivals fell by the wayside, their cars unable to go the distance. Cassidy and Ryder were ones to watch from 12th and 14th, and while Ryder started to make progress up the field, her car died 29 laps into the race. However, her team-mate Cassidy was not so racy, and couldn't climb higher than 9th in the end.

This misfourtune for Ryder gave Ryan McReynolds a chance to capitalise, but he could barely get to enjoy his title rival retiring, as he became the second championship contender in as many races to come acropper of lapped traffic - a miscomminication leading to a collision with Matteo Vasquez ended his day. Michael Bright Racing's day somehow only got worse from there, as a botched pitstop sent van der Meyde all the way to the back of the field, from which he failed to recover, and JJ Davies' car ground to a halt on Lap 56.

With both Cassidy and Michael Bright floundering, the only team left considered capable of winning races regularly would have been Rockstar. Their ambitions were spurned very early - Vance hadn't even qualified for the race, and Speed's car blew up after a mere 7 laps. This left the four Italian cars to get the job done themselves, but they were harassed by a surprise package in Cavalcanti's Horizon Ford. Team owner Daniel Melrose had criticised Roush for the quality of the Ford engine, but it powered Cavalcanti to the team's best result of the year - one better than the Brazilian's efforts at Gateway Motorsports Park at the start of the year.

With Pratchett taking his second win on the bounce, and Christopherson chiselling into Ryder's seemingly unassailable lead, it seems the title fight isn't over just yet. The Indy circus heads abroad for the next round, visiting the legendary Gold Coast street circuit.

OOC: I did something wrong in my first attempts to run the race. We had crazy results like a NeoV 2-3, a Horizon podium lockout, I knew something was wrong. So I went back and changed some settings that I'd messed up, and did the F1RWRS approach of using the number of seeds of the round of the championship. This was #20. I hopefully won't have to do this again...

[FantometteBR]

Liking that Lestrade is getting all those top 10 finishes by now

[DemocalypseNow]

Liking that Lestrade is getting all those top 10 finishes by now

Indeed, Euromotor and Horizon have all of a sudden woken up, but I can't really figure out why...

[DemocalypseNow]

Holden Grand Prix of Australia // Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast
23 October 2016

The championship enters the last foreign leg of the season, the IndyCar circus making its annual pilgrimage to the Gold Coast in Australia, the fast but narrow street track that is Surfers Paradise. Collin Pratchett comes here off the back of two wins on the bounce, he'll be hoping to make it a triple and make further inroads into Natalie Ryder's faltering championship charge. However, with 25 points in hand over nearest rival Jack Christopherson, Ryder is guaranteed to leave Australia with the title lead, regardless of what happens this weekend.

FP1 Result

Code: Select all

 1 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:33.172
 2 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                  1:33.429
 3 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:33.527
 4 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:33.609
 5 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:33.685
 6 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:33.687
 7 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:33.994
 8 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:34.016
 9 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:34.056
10 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           1:34.130
11 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:34.155
12 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:34.236
13 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:34.284
14 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:34.312
15 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:34.426
16 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:34.496
17 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:34.666
18 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:34.786
19 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:34.847
20 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:35.120
21 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:35.184
22 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:35.290
23 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:35.365
24 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:35.408
25 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:35.447
26 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:35.456
27 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:35.746
28 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:35.853
29 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:35.893
30 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:35.919
31 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:35.971
32 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:36.008
33 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:36.352
34 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:36.369
35 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:37.281
36 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:37.587
37 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:38.114
38 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:42.216

McReynolds goes fastest, indicating he still hasn't given up on his title hopes just yet - but more interstingly, Natalie Ryder had a horrible time, wedged between DNQ regulars Yurko and das Schaf. She'll be hoping her difficulties at the start of the weekend don't come back to haunt her later in the meeting.


FP2 Results

Code: Select all

 1 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:33.097
 2 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           1:33.123
 3 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:33.206
 4 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:33.232
 5 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:33.385
 6 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:33.423
 7 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:33.740
 8 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                  1:33.766
 9 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:33.784
10 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:33.909
11 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:33.961
12 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:34.005
13 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:34.209
14 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:34.307
15 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:34.312
16 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:34.379
17 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:34.549
18 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:34.579
19 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:34.587
20 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:34.609
21 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:34.680
22 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:34.708
23 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:35.076
24 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:35.122
25 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:35.286
26 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:35.327
27 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:35.606
28 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:35.624
29 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:35.663
30 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:35.736
31 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:35.855
32 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:36.424
33 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:37.281
34 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:37.606
35 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:38.983
36 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:39.140
37 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:39.169
38 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:40.730

Ryder bounces back, edging out her closest title rival in Jack Christopherson by hundredths. One can only assume the usually incompetent Johannes das Schaf has hit the sweet spot with his car, for the second session in a row he pulls several seconds clear of the bottom of the timesheets. If anything, this may be more impressive than his successful qualification at Pocono - he went faster than both Ryan McReynolds and Daniel Melrose here!


Qualifying 1 Result

Code: Select all

     
 1 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:33.101
 2 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:33.442
 3 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:33.569
 4 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:33.674
 5 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:33.776
 6 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:33.816
 7 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:33.838
 8 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:33.860
 9 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:33.865
10 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:33.885
11 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           1:33.906
12 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:34.086
13 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:34.329
14 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:34.453
15 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:34.671
16 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:34.712
17 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:34.775
18 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                  1:34.808
19 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:34.818
--------------------------------------------------------------------
20 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:34.843
21 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:34.875
22 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:35.019
23 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:35.158
24 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:35.718
25 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:35.926
26 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:36.011
27 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:36.097
28 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:36.136
29 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:36.595
30 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:36.744
31 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:37.809
32 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:38.098
33 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:38.099
34 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:39.048
35 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:39.049
36 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:39.564
37 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:41.402
38 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:42.449

After taking his maiden series pole last time out in Laguna Seca, Robertson makes it two in a row, lining up at the frong alongside Ralf Schumacher, who put his circuit experience to good use in beating some of the better funded efforts in Cassidy and Michael Bright.


Qualifying 2 Results

Code: Select all

 1 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:33.415
 2 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:33.964
 3 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:34.073
 4 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:34.643
 5 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:34.793
 6 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:34.797
 7 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:34.828
---------------------------------------------------------------
 8 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:34.921
 9 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:35.388
10 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:35.693
11 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:35.838
12 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:35.854
13 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:36.525
14 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:36.527
15 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:36.546
16 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:36.563
17 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:37.292
18 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:39.054
19 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:39.287

Dean O'Lauchlan notches up his first DNQ of the year, Joao Cavalcanti follows up his surprise podium two weeks ago with a depressing effort, far far away from qualifying...but would you look at who made the race in their place. His only appearance so far was at Pocono, where only two cars were sent home, but this time he's made the cut all the way up in the lofty heights of 24th on the grid...JOHANNES DAS SCHAF IS ON THE SURFERS GRID! Not only that, but he outquaified his team-mate Damon Cannon to do it! A miraculous effort from the German sees CFM have both cars on the grid for only the second time this year.

[Hermann95]

If this series is going on in 2017, may i go on the waiting list please?

[DemocalypseNow]

If this series is going on in 2017, may i go on the waiting list please?

There's no waiting list. Just come on in. However, the series rules and regulations will be totally revamped for next year, so don't go and set things up just yet....

[Nessafox]

I will be entering too (RonDen Racing Engineering), firstly because i've been messing up with all the drivers i have, but also because i'm not involved in F1RWRS, and i need a top series for my less impressive drivers.

[FantometteBR]

Euromotor will keep its entry at F1RICS. Probably Lestrade and O'Lauchlan will remain at their seats, unless they have clinching commitments in other series

[go_Rubens]

I'd like to join in for next season, either as a one or two car entry.

[Hermann95]

If this series is going on in 2017, may i go on the waiting list please?

There's no waiting list. Just come on in. However, the series rules and regulations will be totally revamped for next year, so don't go and set things up just yet....

Ok, in this case i would like to start next season as Loyer Racing Technologies.

[DemocalypseNow]

Holden Grand Prix of Australia // Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast
23 October 2016

RACE RESULTS

Code: Select all

 1 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)           1:50:47.824
 2 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)             1:50:57.795
 3 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)              1:50:59.484
 4 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)                1:51:02.730
 5 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:51:04.689
 6 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                    1:51:20.240
 7 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)              1:51:31.102
 8 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)                1:51:36.449
 9 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                   1:52:07.220
10 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                        1:52:18.912
11 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                    1:52:25.410
12 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                   1:52:33.854
13 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)                -1 lap
14 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                       -1 lap
15 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)           -1 lap
16 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)                    -1 lap
17 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                         -1 lap
18 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)            -1 lap
19 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)               -1 lap
 - Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                       DNF lap 49
   Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)          DNF lap 40
   Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)                DNF lap 28
   Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                     DNF lap 20
   Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)     DNF lap 17
   Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                     DNF lap 14
   Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)                DNF lap 2

A fantastic performance by Ryan McReynolds, combined with optimal strategy, saw the Canadian driver vault from 7th to 1st by the end of the day - showing he hasn't given up on the championship just yet. Conversely, Michael Robertson dropped like a stone, the polesitter ending up a meager 16th and a lap down. Joining him at the tail-end of the field was Martin van der Meyde yet again, another poor performance in quick succession for the Dutchman.

Natalie Ryder must have felt her chances were good after qualifying, lining up on the second row. However, she spent the day stuck behind Ralf Schumacher's Hasselhoff car, allowing title rivals McReynolds, Christopherson and Pratchett to leapfrog her on strategy. This slid her back to 6th place, and more points conceded to her title rivals in what is an ever narrowing points lead - now just 17 over Christopherson, 21 to McReynolds and 23 to Pratchett. Those are still reasonably big gaps considering there are only three races left, but one big mistake between now and then could cost her the championship.

Elsewhere, Veronika Asimov equalled her best result of the season with 7th, Horizon had a nightmare with an 18th and two DNFs, and Johannes das Schaf couldn't convert his miracle qualification for the race into a finish.

Next up, we bring to a close both the foreign and road course legs of the championship at Suzuka.


POST RACE QUOTES

It was not a good day for me, I was on the pole and I hoped to take a victory in my home race, but it wasn't to be. I was struggling all day with the transmission, there was a problem with 4th gear that only got worse and worse as the race went on. It's disappointing, but I know the car has pace, hopefully I can make amends at Suzuka.

I can't ask for more from today. I had a terrible time in qualifying, so to go from outside the Top 10 with a so-so car to finish in second is like a victory for me today. The most important thing is we've made up ground to the Cassidy cars again this weekend - this momentum needs to continue for the last three races to stay in the fight for the championship.

[Salamander]

Hell of a race by everyone here at MBR - we had an awesome strategy, an awesome car, and an awesome setup. We were all set up for a 1-2, but Christopherson just nipped past James James on the last couple of laps. Shame, I could've used those extra couple of points over him. We're not out of this title fight yet.

[DemocalypseNow]

F1RICS, IndyCar in landmark merger talks

In an unexpected and unprecedented turn of events, organisers of both the F1 Rejects IndyCar Championship Series and IndyCar Racing Series have met to discuss merger terms, following both organisations struggling to stay afloat this year.

The IndyCar Racing Series has suffered bitter blows in 2016, with mainstays such as Penske, Ganassi and Andretti all defecting to NASCAR, leaving privateers to battle it out in the ever-dwindling championship, also having lost the rights to the Indy 500 jewel in the crown event in 2015 to F1RICS. Meanwhile, the slightly more successful F1RICS has been thrown into disarray after its owner suddenly sold up shop without any warning, being taken over by French investment firm Voeckler Capitaux only weeks ago.

Jeremy-Etienne Voeckler, head of racing operations at Voeckler Capitaux, and Tony George, head of the IndyCar Racing Series, met earlier today at the Indianapolis circuit to hash out a merger deal to save both series from extinction, under immense pressure from NASCAR taking up all of the current domestic market.

George was not available for comment, but Voeckler gave a quick soundbite outside the Indianapolis offices; "We need something drastic to turn American open-wheel racing around," he said. "It's time for some left-field thinking. We can't continue on this path anymore."

[TomWazzleshaw]

F1RICS, IndyCar in landmark merger talks

In an unexpected and unprecedented turn of events, organisers of both the F1 Rejects IndyCar Championship Series and IndyCar Racing Series have met to discuss merger terms, following both organisations struggling to stay afloat this year.

The IndyCar Racing Series has suffered bitter blows in 2016, with mainstays such as Penske, Ganassi and Andretti all defecting to NASCAR, leaving privateers to battle it out in the ever-dwindling championship, also having lost the rights to the Indy 500 jewel in the crown event in 2015 to F1RICS. Meanwhile, the slightly more successful F1RICS has been thrown into disarray after its owner suddenly sold up shop without any warning, being taken over by French investment firm Voeckler Capitaux only weeks ago.

Jeremy-Etienne Voeckler, head of racing operations at Voeckler Capitaux, and Tony George, head of the IndyCar Racing Series, met earlier today at the Indianapolis circuit to hash out a merger deal to save both series from extinction, under immense pressure from NASCAR taking up all of the current domestic market.

George was not available for comment, but Voeckler gave a quick soundbite outside the Indianapolis offices; "We need something drastic to turn American open-wheel racing around," he said. "It's time for some left-field thinking. We can't continue on this path anymore."

And people think I'm one crazy bastard. It's kinda hard to merge with a series that merged into this season two years ago, you know

[SuperAguri]

Indycar is the Indy 500 you idiots.

[Salamander]

And people think I'm one crazy bastard. It's kinda hard to merge with a series that merged into this season two years ago, you know

Not anymore, it isn't.

Indycar is the Indy 500 you idiots.

What do you even mean...?

[DemocalypseNow]

Honda Grand Prix of Japan // Suzuka International Circuit
30 October 2016

We march on to the final road course of the season in the midst of a tense four-way battle for the title. Natalie Ryder looked to have an unassailable lead earlier in the year, but a string of mistakes and back luck have left her with the chasing back of Christopherson, McReynolds and Pratchett starting to catch her points tally rapidly.

FP1 Result

Code: Select all

 1 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:41.304
 2 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:41.591
 3 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:41.639
 4 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:41.695
 5 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:41.824
 6 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:41.884
 7 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:41.952
 8 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                  1:42.019
 9 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:42.371
10 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:42.440
11 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:42.543
12 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:42.589
13 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:42.678
14 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:42.731
15 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:42.740
16 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:42.742
17 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:42.796
18 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:42.851
19 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           1:42.910
20 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:43.086
21 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:43.102
22 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:43.228
23 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:43.350
24 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:43.395
25 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:43.475
26 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:43.477
27 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:43.544
28 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:43.573
29 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:43.625
30 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:43.784
31 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:44.852
32 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:45.121
33 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:45.751
34 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:45.914
35 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:46.344
36 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:46.531
37 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:46.891
38 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:49.898

Not a good start to the weekend by Mastercard Lola, thouroughly beaten by title rivals Cassidy Racing and Michael Bright Racing. Christopherson is even all the way down in 19th. McReynolds wasn't an awful lot better either though, still down in 14th. Also disappointing is local hero Kohei Hirate, down in 22nd.

FP2 Result

Code: Select all

1 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:41.351
 2 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:41.357
 3 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:41.371
 4 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:41.372
 5 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:41.503
 6 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:41.521
 7 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           1:41.689
 8 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:41.844
 9 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:42.003
10 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:42.074
11 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:42.097
12 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:42.255
13 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:42.270
14 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:42.374
15 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:42.529
16 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:42.570
17 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                  1:42.655
18 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:42.671
19 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:42.718
20 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:42.853
21 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:42.857
22 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:43.090
23 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:43.302
24 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:43.304
25 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:43.427
26 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:43.451
27 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:43.492
28 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:43.525
29 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:43.631
30 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:44.079
31 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:44.306
32 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:44.717
33 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:44.794
34 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:44.824
35 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:46.742
36 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:46.894
37 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:48.864
38 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:48.968

It's starting to look like the Lolas are genuinely void of pace at Suzuka, as once again the Mastercard cars are beaten soundly by Cassidy and Michael Bright. Michael Robertson especially had a dreadful run, all the way down in 32nd. Also stuck at the rear of the field for the second session in a row is Daniel Melrose. Local favourite Hirate improves to 14th, but the fans will be expecting more in quali.

Q1 Result

Code: Select all

 1 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)         1:41.376
 2 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)    1:41.502
 3 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:41.538
 4 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:41.558
 5 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)           1:41.825
 6 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:41.861
 7 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                  1:41.906
 8 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:42.186
 9 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:42.211
10 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                  1:42.254
11 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:42.262
12 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:42.266
13 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     1:42.318
14 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:42.329
15 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)        1:42.441
16 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       1:42.507
17 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)              1:42.619
18 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)             1:42.715
19 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                    1:42.813
----------------------------------------------------------------
20 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:42.969
21 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:42.987
22 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:43.334
23 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:43.449
24 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:43.542
25 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:43.681
26 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:43.727
27 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:43.749
28 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:44.161
29 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:44.466
30 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:44.806
31 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:44.866
32 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:44.965
33 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:44.994
34 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:46.759
35 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:46.777
36 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:47.087
37 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:48.644
38 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:49.539

Two big scalps in this session, maybe even three - Michael Robertson continues his woeful performance form by only managing 31st! JJ Davies looked very rapid in the free practise sessions, but he could only manage 28th place, and he'll have to try again in Q2 to make the cut. Kohei Hirate was nudged off the bubble at the end, and in 20th placce, is the first driver failing to make the Q1 cut.

Q2 Results

Code: Select all

 1 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:41.562
 2 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)             1:42.050
 3 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)            1:42.475
 4 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)         1:42.838
 5 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:43.213
 6 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:43.218
 7 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)            1:43.249
 8 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)           1:43.260
 9 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                  1:43.367
10 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                        1:43.752
11 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)        1:44.417
12 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)             1:44.768
13 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                  1:45.714
14 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                    1:46.002
15 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)          1:46.562
16 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)  1:47.380
17 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                       1:48.063
18 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                     1:48.478
19 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           1:51.637

JJ Davies manages to set a time that would have been good enough for 5th in Q1 to make the start in 20th place, and Michael Robertson also makes his way in, but still some way off Davies' pace. Daniel Melrose's form looked really shaky going into this session but he makes it in with relative ease in the end. His team-mate Joao Cavalcanti is not so lucky however. Bringing up the rear in 25th place is Kohei Hirate, an extremely disappointing grid slot for his home race.

RACE RESULT

Code: Select all

 1 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                 1:42:29.324
 2 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)              1:43:19.036
 3 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      1:43:59.129
 4 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)         1:44:02.883
 5 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                1:44:03.986
 6 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:44:07.236
 7 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)             1:44:10.372
 8 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                 1:44:12.645
 9 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)               1:44:15.415
10 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)            1:44:16.018
11 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)       1:44:25.348
12 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)                 -1 lap
13 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)             -1 lap
14 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)         -1 lap
15 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)                   -1 lap
16 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                         -1 lap
17 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)            -1 lap
18 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                       -1 lap
19 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)                  -1 lap
20 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)              -1 lap
21 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)                  -1 lap
22 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)          -1 lap
 - Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)          DNF lap 48
   Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)            DNF lap 30
   Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                   DNF lap 28
   Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)             DNF lap 16

NATALIE RYDER'S DOWNFALL CONTINUES! The championship leader had a HORRIBLE race, suffering terribly from the monsoon conditions that emerged mid-race. She finished all the way out of the points, but her woes are somewhat limited by her rivals' misfortunes. Both Christopherson and McReynolds couldn't make it to the end, keeping her points cushions to them intact. However, Pratchett kept it on the island in the treacherous conditions to pick up second place, behind a consolation victory for Ryder's team, with Ashley Cassidy going to victory lane.

Another fantastic performance was by local hero Kohei Hirate, who raced all the way from the back row of the grid to take the final podium place, and Matteo Vasquez picked up a rare Top 10 finish for his NeoV Competition team.

[FMecha]

I would my team be renamed A.E.T. Alliance/Aurico Autosport, and it shall take place from Michigan race (i.e. retcon).
No, I am NOT trying to cause another dramabait.

[Ataxia]

No, I am NOT trying to cause another dramabait.

For Pete's sake, stop drudging the past all the time. We forget all the shite you put us through, and YOU continue to bring it up. Please, just stop it.

[DemocalypseNow]

I would my team be renamed A.E.T. Alliance/Aurico Autosport, and it shall take place from Michigan race (i.e. retcon).
No, I am NOT trying to cause another dramabait.

Denied. This series is getting finished asap with no changes and then consigned to history.

[FMecha]

I would my team be renamed A.E.T. Alliance/Aurico Autosport, and it shall take place from Michigan race (i.e. retcon).
No, I am NOT trying to cause another dramabait.

Denied. This series is getting finished asap with no changes and then consigned to history.

OK.

[DemocalypseNow]

Texas 300 // Texas Motor Speedway
13 November 2016

We're reaching the critical point of the championship now, the penultimate round at Texas Motor Speedway. Notorious for its high-G cornering forces and flat out driving, it will be an extremely tough event for all the drivers.

FP1 Result

Code: Select all

 1 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)             24.493
 2 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)           24.575
 3 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                    24.733
 4 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)               24.756
 5 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)              24.836
 6 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)      25.047
 7 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)                25.157
 8 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                    25.378
 9 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)               25.398
10 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)              25.429
11 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           25.447
12 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                   25.569
13 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)             25.655
14 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                    25.708
15 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                      25.717
16 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)          25.739
17 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                    25.742
18 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)         25.755
19 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       25.841
20 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)                25.842
21 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)         25.965
22 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                          25.993
23 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                  26.033
24 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)               26.702
25 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                    26.754
26 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                      26.771
27 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)               26.844
28 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                   27.118
29 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)              27.492
30 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)          27.497
31 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                       27.961
32 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                        28.052
33 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)           28.979
34 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)    29.012
35 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)                 29.098
36 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                         29.168
37 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)            29.169
38 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)             29.859

Pretty standard stuff here in FP1, with the exception of 2nd placed championship contender Collin Pratchett struggling all the way down in 20th.

FP2 Results

Code: Select all

 1 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)               24.534
 2 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)             24.592
 3 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           24.623
 4 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                    24.733
 5 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)              24.743
 6 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                    24.828
 7 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                   25.361
 8 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)              25.500
 9 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)                25.625
10 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                          25.694
11 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)          25.711
12 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       25.760
13 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)         25.857
14 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                    25.904
15 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)                 25.953
16 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)             25.958
17 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)              26.094
18 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)           26.095
19 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                        26.201
20 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                    26.312
21 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)               26.447
22 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)          26.618
23 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                      26.618
24 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)           26.662
25 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)               26.808
26 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                   26.869
27 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)               27.101
28 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)         27.466
29 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                      27.674
30 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)      27.692
31 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                  28.009
32 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)                28.058
33 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                       29.294
34 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                         29.553
35 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)            29.868
36 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)             30.068
37 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                    30.531
38 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)    31.503

Quite a few frontrunners hit problems in the second free practise. Ashley Cassidy, Lance Vance and Martin van der Meyde were all outside the Top 25, in what was especially a bitter crash down to earth for Rockstar Engineering considering their pace in FP1.

Q1 Result

Code: Select all

 1 Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                   24.381
 2 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)                24.489
 3 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                    24.553
 4 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)               24.620
 5 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)              24.718
 6 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                    24.724
 7 Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                   24.733
 8 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)               24.808
 9 Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                        24.995
10 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)             25.164
11 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)               25.262
12 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)           25.281
13 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                  25.361
14 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)      25.403
15 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)                25.557
16 Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                      25.855
17 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)         25.865
18 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                    25.869
19 Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)          25.993
-------------------------------------------------------------------
20 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)             26.075
21 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)              26.191
22 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)               26.253
23 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)              26.273
24 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                      26.299
25 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)         26.532
26 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)                 26.591
27 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                    26.997
28 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)           27.369
29 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                          27.408
30 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                    27.564
31 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       28.003
32 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                       28.441
33 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)            29.514
34 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)             29.585
35 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)    29.623
36 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)          29.676
37 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                         30.835
38 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)           31.480

Some big shocks here; Natalie Ryder continues to crumble under pressure by only running 30th in Q1, but even worse is Ryan McReynolds, who goes stone dead last by some margin. Those two will need to drive their way into the race at the back of the field in the get-out-of-jail Q2 session...

Q2 Result

Code: Select all

 1 Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                    25.256
 2 Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)           25.440
 3 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)             25.898
 4 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)               26.032
 5 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)                 26.056
 6 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)         26.098
 7 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)              26.111
 8 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                      26.290
 9 Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)       26.663
10 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)              26.744
11 Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)           26.806
-------------------------------------------------------------------
12 Janneau Esmeijer (Hasselhoff Motorsport)          26.823
13 Tim Horan (Restov Racing)                         27.021
14 Natacha Gachnang (Onyx Racing)                    27.103
15 Nikola Nikolov (DSR Racing)                       27.684
16 Phil McCracken (Michael Bright Racing)            29.404
17 Johannes das Schaf (Checkered Flag Motorsport)    29.772
18 Roy Guidry (Onyx Racing)                          30.081
19 Al Unser III. (Hasselhoff Motorsport)             30.356

Ryan McReynolds is having a SHOCKER so far this weekend. He scrapes in by absolutely nothing, taking the last place on the grid for tomorrow's race. Conversely, Ryder was reasonably comfortable up front in this session.

TEXAS 300 RACE RESULT

Code: Select all

 1 Clint Hillman (Cassidy Racing)                  1:16:39.656
 2 Collin Pratchett (Mastercard Lola)                  -3 laps
 3 Martin van der Meyde (Michael Bright Racing)        -3 laps
 4 Ralf Schumacher (Hasselhoff Motorsport)             -4 laps
 5 David Lee (Dreadnought Racing)                      -4 laps
 6 Dean O'Lauchlan (Euromotor International)           -5 laps
 7 Rafael Carlos (Aurico Autosport)                    -5 laps
 8 Lance Vance (Rockstar Engineering)                  -5 laps
 9 Claude Speed (Rockstar Engineering)                 -5 laps
10 Veronika Asimov (Dreadnought Racing)                -6 laps
11 Michael Robertson (Mastercard Lola)                 -6 laps
12 Vidal Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)           -6 laps
13 Jeremy MacMillan (Aurico Autosport)                 -6 laps
14 Matteo Vasquez (NeoV Competition)                   -7 laps
15 Jules Vergne (Mastercard Lola)                      -7 laps
16 Joao Cavalcanti (Horizon Motorsports)               -7 laps
17 Daniel Melrose (Horizon Motorsports)                -7 laps
18 Jiri Komarek (Tassie Racing)                        -8 laps
19 Jose Maria Lopez (NeoV Competition)                 -8 laps
20 J. J. Davies (Michael Bright Racing)               -11 laps
21 Jack Christopherson (Mastercard Lola)              -11 laps
 - Antonio Reyna-Sanchez (Horizon Motorsports)     DNF lap 123
   Kohei Hirate (Onyx Racing)                      DNF lap 112
   Ryan McReynolds (Michael Bright Racing)          DNF lap 99
   Damon Cannon (Checkered Flag Motorsport)         DNF lap 87
   Elinor Yurko (Tassie Racing)                     DNF lap 47
   Rusty Gannit (Aurico Autosport)                  DNF lap 37
   Natalie Ryder (Cassidy Racing)                   DNF lap 27
   Beth Lestrade (Euromotor International)          DNF lap 20
   Ashley Cassidy (Cassidy Racing)                   DNF lap 4

I have no words for this race...no words...

That means going into the final round, we have a new championship leader - Collin Pratchett takes a 9 point lead into the season finale at Auto Club Speedway.

[Onxy Wrecked]

Is Auto Club ready yet?!?

[DemocalypseNow]

EXCLUSIVE! Secret images of 2017 Indy car uncovered by Indy Chronicle

The Indianapolis Chronicle is proud to present the first image of the new generation of Indy cars debuting in 2017, obtained for us through a highly trusted source.

The new car is a stark departure from the former choice of chassis, which trace their roots back to the early 2000s. The radical design is extremely drag efficient, with claims it may reach a staggering 300mph on Superspeedways.

With ratings dwindling and manufacturers heading for the exits, series bosses felt a drastic change was required to lure fans and sponsors back to the sport, and the new car appears to be just that.

Here is the exclusive spy shot acquired by the Indianapolis Chronicle earlier today:



What do you think of the new car? Is it a refereshing change, an insult to history or a step too far altogether? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

[Onxy Wrecked]

Holy smokes... this might be far too fast for the narrow racing line at Indianapolis unless the engines were downsized. This is 1973 all over again and I'm afraid of having one of my drivers become the Art Pollard or Swede Savage due to the speeds of these machines.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Oh lord... as a team owner, this is the first we've heard about it, which is a worry in itself so close to the new season. As a concept, it looks the part, but as a driving machine, it's far too unsafe to ever allowed anywhere near a racetrack. I mean, 300mph on a superspeedway? That's just begging for somebody to be killed in the event of an accident, and I for one am having no part of it if it stays like this.

[Salamander]

Well, I for one am quite excited by this change - almost makes me think about dropping the retirement/team owner gig entirely. This is the most exciting racecar I've seen in a very long time, and I'm assuming that the delay in announcing this is down to ensuring this car is up to safety standards. Of course, I'd like to actually see some crash tests with the new car before anyone is allowed to step foot inside it, but I'm sure it'll be fine.

Indy's been the fastest racing series on the planet for a good while now - why not capitalise on it? It's a bold move from the new ownership, and if they've done their calculations right, this could pay off big time for Indy.

[RonDenisDeletraz]

300MPH

WERE ALL GONNA DIE

[HawkAussie]

Oh shoots

[FantometteBR]

It's Indycar, not Le Mans or Daytona 24

[Onxy Wrecked]

It's Indycar, not Le Mans or Daytona 24

This is more like NASCAR without a restrictor plate.