2008 RD Touring Car Championship (RACE 07)

[Keith Peppiatt]

Wido I was out of the race in lap1 must have been someone else in your mirror lol

OMG!! the ghost of Nils!!! ound:

 

[Mark Apat]

qualy went semi good, p12
r1: start quite good, then comming to t2 Lu Chan rapidly turned and i touched him wich resultet a spin and some damage , continued to t3 as andreas shoot into me, pushing me int hte wall wich then resulted with a broken car, and a slow pace ...

r2: hoped for better but macro ho pushed me into steve emmons in l1 t4,
i followed steve for one lap and overtook on the long straight, and then breaked too late comming to second split and pushed mtommi tam off..

so sorry lu & mtommi for the incidents..
i was happy to make g1 but i hoped for a better outcome

congretulations to the podium and to the winners of the cup
good work also to the RD team..
:thumb:

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

quali: two decent laps put me in 22nd of 25

race1: everyone was really trying to get through l1 safely, some very considerate driving. I was basically enjoying myself followed by Lasse battling for (I think) pos18 when I missed Melcro finished 20th. A big thank you to Lasse, who was a perfect gentleman, pushing all the time, never touched me once!

race2: I don't know about the other backbenchers, I for one tried to avoid the pileup at all costs (who wouldn't?), however losing all control by breaking and steering at the same time isn't my notion of trying to avoid a pileup. with cars stacked three deep I ended up with a twisted suspension and facing the wrong way round. I then nudged Rich (so sorry, as I said above: no time to realize that I had a suspension problem before t4) and settled down to race in pos12. I kept my cool for 4 laps, again chased by a group of drivers obviously faster, followed again by a seat (Lasse again?). those were the four most enjoyable laps i ever did at Macau! eventually I f.. up and had to let them pass. Last lap, still in pos12, I read the chat of the guys already finished to miss breakpoint in Melcro and damaging the car so bad, I had to drop out finished 17th

thx all for racing in this tournie - big big thanks to RD!

 

[Oliver Amos]

EDIT:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX7P7fyyXsE[/media]

Note:

1) I am in front
2) On the inside line
3) Brake to make sure I don't wide into his car
4) He turns into my car

 

[Andreas Löffler]

THX all for this wonderful season !

Qualy - How i expected after Pre Qualy: P19 with 2:30.1. To compare the pole goeas to Erik Ahlen with 2:27.8 i think.

Race 1 - After start i get about two positions and on the straight was an accident where some cars was involve. Then i make a mistike and i´m so sorry beacause Mark Apat was unfortunitly infront of me. I touch him and he kiss the wall, please forgive me :hail:
Then i defending my positon. The guys infront of me was much faster, so i´m very lucky with P11.

Race2 - Was very careful and break much erlier and lost one position in the corner after the long straight. Because of suspension problem again :frusty:, i was about 15 kmh slower on the straight, so Mark Hellen could pass me easily. Then Ben was in my mirrow but then he take the emergency exit after the long straight.
Now the way was free to bring P12 into finish :thumb:


Thank you to RD for organisation this fantastic season and´Crongratulation to Rami for winning the championchip (without a victory :clap2.

 

[David Lemon]

Quaified 9th on what has to be said is not my favourite track.

Race 1: got a good start and avoided trouble and soon found myself in 6th behind Wido but I trashed the front of the car about lap 5 and this let Luis close in and pass but was happy with 7th

Race 2: this was a lot better and got a good start and tried to keep it clean through the first few turns, after turn 2 I looked in my mirror And seen cars flying everywhere :crutch: this left me, dietmar and Amos to scrap it out but I tapped Dietmar at the hairpin when I just couldn't avoid him:sorry: Oliver and I then fought for the lead but once he got past I was just holding on to him and no more so I could never really challenge him and I crossed the line 2secs behind after the 8 laps but I was happy thanks for the great races all and thanks to RD for another great league, can't wait for the next one!!! :thumb:

 

[Vincent Loi]

First time playing in RDWTCC

Qualify: First time entering 29s with 7L of gasoline, still with several clips of wall. Final claim a 3rd position with 1:29.744.. Gary is so fast with 1:29.1xx in G2 :evil: Then I think Michael moved up to G1, so I managed to start at 2nd.

R1: Got a slow start and was down to 4th. Working my way up, tracked down Jose after 2 laps. I was able to go alongside with him after the left-hander of the finish line. Then approaching to Mandarin Oriental corner (the 240+ km/h right-hander) my car was actually ahead of him. I don't know by the rules I was overtaking him in the corner or not? From racing rules, as the nose my car was already past him before the corner, should I be considered ahead? Anyway, I was in the inside line and had to apply brake. However, somehow I think my tail of my car hit Jose's car, and he crashed going over 200 km/h. I hope he's okay :becky: Glad to hear from the marshals that he was fine. I want to say sorry to him, express my deep-heart apologize to him no matter I was right or wrong. I am a Macau local resident, and had forgotten that I cannot overtake at the Mandarin Oriental corner (this is different from the real world rules in Macau, and the rule is the same for the very tight right-hander). I don't mean to argue or excuse my fault. I admit I am too anxious, and if I remember I can't pass at the corner, I won't even go alongside with you after crossing the finish line. Sorry for ruining your race, Jose. Anyway, my mood is really very down as I considered myself wrong.. and I did not pay attention to the next Lisboa right hander, and braked too lately, and went off. 2 Laps later, I just crashed into a wall to end my race, as I'm in blue mood.

Race 2:
Starting from the 2nd last, I have lots of works to make up. Anyway, I managed to pass several cars, and took advantage and several crashes in the front. I managed to get to 13th. Then slowly worked my way up, don't wanna make the same mistake again. Finally, about 4 laps to go, I was at 8th, having some battles with J. Wilson. He was clearly slower than me every lap. However, he's done a great job defensing. I was not able to get pass him. Then the car in front of him crashed, and then I took advantage again to come to 7th. Still, 2 laps to go and I can't pass him. Finally, settled at 7th for race 2. Glad to come back to 7th from 2nd last.

I hope there will be RDWTCC 2, and then I will be fully participated from scratch. This is a great league, and thanks everybody for a great race.

 

[Keith Peppiatt]

OK need to point out that Race Directors will review the race 2 incident. please no finger pointing or flaming.

thanks.

 

[Karl Westman]

Oh my god, what a race!

First time for me in Group 2, made me start to sweat two days before the race...

Qualified myself to a "respectable" 17th place on the grid, which were fine by me as I didn't want to be up front causing a major crash

Race 1:
As the lights went out I dropped the clutch and got a massive start! I don't know how many cars I overtook before the first and fast right hander - but it felt as if I overtook the entire field...which I of course didn't ound: Coming down the straight and up to T1 I think I were somewhere around 12th place, there were a lot of cars ahead, three in a row, so I took it really carefully and prayed that no one would hit me from behind ray: To my joy we all came clean out through the first couple of turns! Great racing by all of you! :thumb:

Alessandro Maresta was hot on my tail up the hill to the tight left and then right hand turn. Don't know how he did it but some how he got in front of me :loco:

I can't remember who you all were, but we were a group of four to five cars that scrambled for positions for the next couple of laps. Clean and fair racing though

At about lap 5 I suddenly realized that I was in eight place, and that would mean I was in pole for the second race! My heart nearly stopped ticking as I really didn't want the pole in fear of making a mess of it all To my satisfaction I managed to grab the seventh place before the checkered flag dropped...

Race 2:
P2 on the grid :evil: and a huge confidence in my trusty old BMW's ability to shoot of the line. Lights out... :bolt: I'm off like a canon ball! Coming down to T1 I had a gap of about 0.5 seconds to P2. I decided to do all I could to keep my first place. Head down, elbows in, focus on the track ahead. Here we go! :nanahump:

After just a few laps I got a friendly tap from behind in the last hairpin. Gary had managed to fight his way up the field and now had me squared in his sight :laser::scared:

I managed to keep him at bay with the use of some good old blocking tactics. This made us both slow down, but hey, I was still in front so I'm good. Gary on the other hand must have been, to put it mildly, frustrated. I could almost hear the grinding of his teeth ...

Eventually though, the fun had to come to an end. As I and Gary charged up the hill (or at least Gary did, don't know what I was doing) he managed to squeeze by me. In the process there were some body contact and I spun off in to the barrier causing a damper to fail. Despite the spin, I were still in second place and made a futile attempt of catching up to Gary. But he was so damn quick there were no way in hell I would have managed it.

During the last couple of laps I started to sulk a little as I felt that I'd lost my position because of a situation that could have been avoided out: I'm by no means angry at Gary, I was just a bit bummed and saddened. But Gary being the gentleman he is, politely waited for me on the last lap and let me by :becky: before he again tried to retake the position, but this time he had me not fooled I finished the last race of the season as :first:

Gary, You're such a pal! Love to race you again soon! :thumb:

All in all, a very good race weekend and a excellent racing season! I'm a bit sad it's all over, just as I started to find my form and pace... but, I'm sure the race directors will make us a new and thrilling race series to look forward to.

I'd like to send a special Thank You to the team behind this series, I've never been in such a well organized and professionally managed community before. I'm here to stay, for a long time!
:tea:
Kind regards,
Karl

 

[Dietmar]

Qualy: Actually little better than expected 2:32.940, below 2:33 so far only in time attack (Pre-Qualy is also time attack)

Race 1: After the drop outs for the next group I was on 7th. 'Average' to 'bad' start for my conditions lost a couple of positions and afterwards gave extra caution to lap 1, lost more positions. Reaching the hill I was on 11, Lucas in front of me. We gained a couple positions as other were not giving the extra caution to lap 1 . In the hair pin somebody parked his car, Lucas passed him, I stopped to let the situation be cleared, to be honest I have no idea what the correct behaviour was! The guys behind me were not prepare for the yellow flags, got a couple of bumps . That put Marco in front of me (he was the unfortune parker), put we were both gaining space back to Lucas. In the next lap Marco decided not to take the right turn at the end of the high speed part. Luis was behind me in the mean time, whom I had to let go after a driving mistake, but he was anyway faster than me. Somewhere in the hills Luis got Lucas and I was catching up as well. Was following him for some time, especially in the hills I seemed to be quicker but no space and somehow when he did a mistake I did one as well. In lap 7 on the right hander before the finish my chance came which I used (luckily there was a fence which kept me on track ). Hope that was a clean move! That gave me 8, which I kept for the last lap. 8 in race 1 means .....

Race 2: That was my best start ever!!!!! Kept P1!!!! I was so amazed!!!! I made it very well up to the hairpin, unfortunately that was the beginning of my race end (and it was not my driving mistake ), got a suspension problem, which did me not bring well through the right hander after the downhill section. Aerodynamic problem. A lap later there was suddenly a wall , tire got damaged. Tried to make it to the pit without stopping others to much. Made it to the pit but then I screwed up the !§$&%&/?| pit menu, confirmed, but for some reason they did not touch my car, that's when I hit the escape button and openrd my bottle of wine.

Anyway had lots of fun, great event! Was actually little scared for Macau (just saw the video that Mtommi posted before and I am not a big fan of City circuits).

 

[Mtommi Tam]

Group 1 .....same

 

[Wido Rossen]

Well done RaceDepartment

Another championship is over.
This championship whas bigger and more difficult then last year.
New race directors where added and the staff growe with some people.
And all these guys where working behind the scene`s to create a great championship.
And they did...
With some great names like Domjan,Huttu,Horvath,Kaukola and many more.
Rami Kaukola proofd to be the most consited driver and went on to take the Racedepartment WTCC 2008 Championship.
Last years winner S Hoogendoorn whas not pressent in the new championship.
Over 200 drivers enterd the championship.
There where teams and individual drivers.
They could race for there own and the team championship.
So four groups where created and so it whas that the fastest 100 drivers where racing for points.
These 200 drivers hat to prove the where good enough to compete in group 1 to 4.
The other drivers where also racing but for fun.
It proved to be a good concept and the championship started.
During the championship alsort off things happend.
Drivers who where not mature enough to follow the rules of conduct.
There where several racing incedents to be investegated and drivers hat to be punished for those incedents.
A job well done by the race directors.
To bad that after the summer holliday`s almost have the field never showed up again.
But hey the more points for the die hards among us.

I also take this oppertunety to make a big complement to the staff and race directors of RD.
They again done a terrific job in organizing this championship.
And congratulations to our new champion Rami Kaukola.
Hope he will be present next season to defend his title.

Well done Boy`s.
Where looking forward to more great championships.

 

[Wido Rossen]

Yep, massive crash at T2.

 

[Michael Sharpe]

ound: looking at that video of race2 start, I reckon I was the only one who got away with out any damage to my car, too bad I drove it at a wall a few secs later in case you wondered I was the blue car who arrived when the accident was finishing, stopped and lagged my way round the parked cars

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

in case you wondered I was the blue car who arrived when the accident was finishing, stopped and lagged my way round the parked cars

now, there's a good boy

 

[Henrik Horvath]

Thank you for the congratulations guys

I`m not a qual master so start from 3rd.
race1: very very good start, I managed to turn away first. Then I risked nothing, but I had to push it because Marcin was fast. Finish 1st.
race2: good start again, overtake few cars, then overtake Patrick and Rami in Hospital Hill there was not much place but I made it. Next I started pursuing Gregory and Marcin. when we caught up with Gregory, he released us? Then it was something very hard and close battle with Marcin Last lap I finily did it in T1 and finish first again

Thanks to RD for organisation this great League and Grats to Rami to winning it. good job

 

[Wido Rossen]

OMG!! the ghost of Nils!!! ound:

Yep , he whas there to haunt me...


Sorry Nils for swichting your name with the other (?) driver.

 

[Michael Herrmann]

that flying honda was me the yellow one spun and it came back from the other side of the road directly in fron of me
that made me airborne like a f22 raptor

 

[Theo de Bruin]

Well, I wanted to finish a race at Macau and I actually managed to finish both!

Had a good qualifying, setting a time almost a second faster than my pre-Q time. That put me in 15th position on the grid.

Race 1: My start wasn't too good and I decided to take it easy and keep out of trouble. Was driving around that 15th position all race. Won a few places, made some (minor) mistakes and lost a few places. Ended up in p.16.

Race 2: Had a reasonable start. But coming through the 2nd turn there was this huge pile up with cars flying through the air and all. I slammed on my brakes but couldn't avoid hitting a Seat, damaging my suspension. Then I was stuck between a few cars and had to wait until I could continue. Dropped back to p.20.
But because of other peoples mistakes I managed to climb back through the ranks and I was the 4th car chasing Eckhart in (I think) 11th position. Managed to overtake Gaynall and chased Lasse and Eckhart. Then Eckhart decided to park his car in the chicane (Juuust fitted in there ) and I only had Lasse in front of me. Lasse had the misfortune somebody crashed in front of him making him slow down a little after turn 2. I didn't so I could easily pass him. Managed to keep him behind me in the last 2 laps and finished in p.10. Had a great race, especially with the group with Eckhart, Lasse, Jeremy and Gaynall. :thumb:

I had a great last race of this league, thanks to all who participated and to the RD Race Directors for organizing!!!

 

[Gary Lennon]

For sure many many future battles to come Karl m8 :thumb:.

Something i managed to not mention in my post was the fact that that incident was indeed entirely my fault,and i knew it at the time,one very small lift off my throttle and we would have gone on there no probs,so indeed very avoidable by me.
A win like that is not something i would want,on the other hand the final battle for 2nd by .165? will do very nicely! :thumb: :thumb:.