Round 9 - Knockhill [22nd May]

+1

Left to confirm are:

David Jundt
Lennart Groessl
Matthias Weber

You all have another 2 hours to confirm or deny your presence.

Don't know if I can make it tomorrow because of work.
My car is free

If still free and I'm in time I'll race.

Hmm... I might miss Qualy or the most of it. Otherwise, I expect to be there...

Jonatan Acerclinth wrote:

Oyvind Andersen wrote:

My car is free for Knockhill

It's possible I can drive tomorrow, but I didn't know it until about 4pm, if my car is chosen by another driver, can I take another who is free?

i

I´m out of r2. I do not understand this car. Suddenly, it blocks the wheels in a place where I've never had a braking problem. I feel stupid.

My races:

Qualifying went allright here with 2nd places on the grid but in the race I was not quick and consistent enough. First race I got a nudge at T1 from Jan after the start but happilly I did not crash out, came home a good 3rd.
2nd race was a disaster: I was not quick enough in the first laps so Jan's Honda could pull out of my slipstream a few times but unfortunately the last time he did that we had a coming together at the narrow start finishline and both crashed out. Looked like a racing incident in the replay, we came a few millimetres too close there. Decided to quit the race because of the damage.

Better luck next race I hope

Despair for me in this race.
I did not have time to train and during the 2 races, my brake pedal presented problems, braking alone in the straight.
So I started worrying about not messing up the other competitors and that's what my 2 races summed up.
A shame for not having trained and not being fast enough.

Results and Points are up.

If you have anything you'd like us admins to have a look at then please PM myself or Juha Bos. Looked like we had a fairly clean event though from what I saw and heard so great job everyone!

Report from me to come later.

Thanks for excellent racing- I drove sole Nissan at the field, so it was quite important to finish both races.

R1 was a bad start and the other action at the track put the lady Primera even further at the finish.
But start for R2 was even worse. As Jonathan said at the briefing- it was a very tight field, so the action was quick and loosing or gaining a position was a matter of second or two. Hope didn't ruined Mick's race when coming through chicane (yes I was aware that there's no space for two cars, so I wanted you to go ahead of me).
But the biggest surprise came at the last lap by Jan Prusa- I've felt confused when crossing the finish line  

Good fun last night

I love Knockhill. I think it’s got a great flow and above all I knew it would suit my Audi more than most. When I started practising I was surprised however to find my tires were struggling to gain any sort of temperature! It was a good surprise to, meaning I could go harder on the setup and turn in and maintain reasonable temps.

Certainly paid off too as I managed to grab pole. Race 1 was a bit lonely but that’s only because I was very fortunate have 2nd 3rd and 4th all battle it out and letting me open a gap.

Race 2 was different. I’ve noticed in race 2 on most rounds so far Richards pace is very strong so I thought he may be the biggest threat and turned out I was right, I was again lucky to have a 6 second gap gifted to me when Peter and Jan came together which freed Richard who over the course of the race gained 2 seconds on me. So very grateful to of had that lead in the first place or could have ended differently!

Great racing! And also a big thank you to all backmarkers, not the easiest of tracks to let leaders by but you did it very well so a big thank you for that!

My participation at Knockhill was very hectic. But quali 1 was great for me, much more than i expect. Some nice racing laps, then i overtook Jonatan after his mistake, but he was faster than me and i must defend before him ... again Lucky and succesfully. At the and of race 1 i had contact with Bruno. Sorry Bruno it was difficult for me, and i was little bit pushed from Jonatan and crash into you I finnished at 4h place, it was surprise.
Second race was very unlucky. PB at quali was not enough. At the end of the 3rd lap i think, I couldn't avoid contact with Jan, after hiting him i lost rear wing and after 200 meters I ended up on the roof

Gratz to podium, thank you HSO for great racing!

I'm finally in the lead of the independents cup, but not in the way I wanted.

In qualifying I got close to Dave's Cavalier, but not close enough, he was in 8th and I had a good view on his bootlid in 10th. Overtaking was never going to be easy so the start was crucial. I didn't get close enough, but approaching Clark's I had a run on the car splitting us. Dave went left, I got ambitious and went right to make it a 3-car wide entry into Clark's. Dave backed off on the other side of the track and I was through. Any hopes I had of following the works cars were quickly dashed by their pace so I had a rather lonely drive. Dave did make a comeback, and after yet another track warning I had to lower the pace so he got even closer. A last ditch effort at Taylor's was blocked by me and I took 7th, the independents win and the provisional series lead.

The second qualifying session wasn't as good. I only managed 14th and Dave was tenth with David Jundt, Lukas Vydra and Ray Riddall splitting us. My start was again a good one and I had moved by Lukas and Ray before the first turn. I then spent 9 laps sitting on Dave's rear bumper. I got tantalisingly close but I couldn't make the pass. When Dave got a bit unstable over the kerb at Leslie's, I had a marginally better exit speed and went for the inside at Scotsman. I moved to the right but I nudge Dave into the gravel. I wasn't aware I'd hit him, I didn't see or feel it and I was sure I had the space to make the pass. It was only when watching the replay I realised what had gone wrong. My apologies to Dave. It definitely wasn't on purpose, I could have barged through multiple times in the preceding laps but I wanted a clean pass. Not much happened after that, I finished 7th and 1st independent again.

I'm happy to have seen the results and come to conclussion that we, generally, seemed to have a clean even ton one of the toughest races for that in this series, well done on that everyone!


Now, personally....

I'm very frustrated that the Volvo wasn't more competitive around here, though I was partly ecpecting it, but I didn't think I'd be outdragged up the hill by every other works machine, but hey ho, I know why that was, just not able to work around it (down to my own prefference in the car and how the car works in general).

Practice for the event was a lot of fun but seeing the others pace I knew it'd be a struggle unless I could nail a lap in qualifying and hold on during the races.

Sadly, for myself, Grant was on fire around here with his inherently fast Audi (due to the AWD with the slow turns and general extra grip compared to the 2WD's) and both Peugeots and Honda's were very quick as well but I somehow managed 4th on the grid for R1.

Race1:

Got a decent start, nothing to celebrate or write home about, but it was sifficient enough to keep my position.

A couple laps in I was up in 3rd and was under attack by Peter. Sorry for T1 Peter, even though you said it was your fault I still feel I should have been able to leave more room for the both of us.
It was then a question of trying to get past Jan in the Honda but he was using that Japanese car very well and I wasn't brave enough to actually put a do or die move on...

But with 14 or so laps left I was feeling the heat from a surging Peter in the Peugeot catching up and felt I had to have a stab at Jan to get past and put a car between me and Peter but sadly the move didn't work out and I then made a slight mistake which let Peter put an opportunistic move on me at Duffu's and made it stick at McIntyre.
When I then tried to keep up I made a stupid mistake at the Chicane and ran off the road, which allowed Honza to fly past as well.

The last bit of the race was me trying to catch and re-pass Honza, and while I got closer, a stupid miss-read of a situation saw me put him into Bruno who hit the wall. I'm really sorry Bruno.

So 5th in the end, not too bad but sadly Peter finished ahead of me once again.


Q2:

Qualifying 2 I was trying some new gears to try and find some more speed up the hill, sadly it didn't work and I had to revert back, reverted back a bit too far though which saw me struggle a tad bit in R2.

Qualified 6th I believe, a very closely bunched up top 8 though, so could have been both higher and lower on the grid with the tiniest of difference made in the way I approached the lap.


Race 2:

The 2nd race started much like the 1st had. Had a sufficient start to hold station and decided to not dive up the inside in T1, had a slight bit of contact from memory but nothing major.

Stayed behind until L3 when Jan and Peter got together up ahead of us going towards T1. Look very much like your typical Super Touring incident, cars interlocking and one of them going 90 degrees across the front of the other. Sadly for them, both Peter and Jan was affected by it but in terms of the Championship it was nice to finally make a dent in Peters' lead, if only a miniscule one.

Spent the rest of the race trying to get to grips with Richard who I had passed in that incident menioned above but because I was off the road twice (once in a very similar fasion to the one heading into Duffy's Dip) I decided to give the position back. Couldn't do much about Richard, when I had a clean perfect hotlap I could keep up with him but as soon as I took it anywhere near easy he'd pull .3-.5 of a second on me in a jiffy so was sitting behind him hoping he would crack but I knew it was a slim chance.

But 3rd behind Richard and the dominant Grant was a good result in the 2nd race.


Overall happy I could salvage such good results at a track where the Volvo felt far from home but at the same time frustrated that it couldn't have been a 2nd and 3rd instead


But overall, hopefully this is the turn of the Championship and it can become close come the end of it

The results table

Jonatan Acerclinth wrote:

hopefully this is the turn of the Championship and it can become close come the end of it  

My prediction: You will beat me at Brands and Thruxton but I will be faster at Oulton and Donnington

And congratz to Grant for his double win. Hope to see you at front for the rest of the season

Peter Blom wrote:

Jonatan Acerclinth wrote:

hopefully this is the turn of the Championship and it can become close come the end of it  

My prediction: You will beat me at Brands and Thruxton but I will be faster at Oulton and Donnington

And congratz to Grant for his double win. Hope to see you at front for the rest of the season

I won't beat you at Thruxton mate, unless you run into trouble. It's a boogy track for me but I'm hoping I'll be on form at Donnington and hopefully the shorter layout of Oulton will suit the Volvo better than the long one (though you're probably right that the Pug has the advantage there in terms of the cars themselves no matter what either of us do to them)

Let's hope we'll have a tight championship at the end, whichever way it goes and no matter if it's me or David coming at you