4 - The rSeat 45 Minutes of Motegi

[Eckhart von Glan]

The first two turns were not a nice sight indeed. I wonder if rolling start would have made it any better? If I saw correctly, guys were running five wide before even getting to the line proper, I may be wrong, though, have not checked replay yet. Also, chaps again rejoined the race before letting everyone (within sight) pass. Not good.
Other than that, there were some fine battles all through the grid.

 

[Linus Broström]

http://www.twitch.tv/glacier_racing/b/404299504

it says Virginia but it is Twin Ring Motegi

 

[Paul Ilbrink]

Yeah that was a pretty disappointing race for me.
I totally lacked pace in Qualify and only beat my PB on race fuel by 2 tenths.
I took it a bit easy at the start as it was a bit crowded in front of me but managed to get clean through the first couple of corners. I then settled and tried finding a bit of a rhythm and managed to make up some positions.

Unfortunately I didn't really get to chance to do much more as my race ended on lap 3 as Jamie apparently missed his brakingpoint as he said.
I didn't even see him coming to be honest but I probably wouldn't have been able to avoid him anyway.
Anyway tough luck, and maybe I'll be back for one of the remaining races.

 

[Xosé Estrada]

Well i seems i will be the first one to comment on the race.

I got taking out 5 meters after the finish line on the first lap and then again in turn 1. This is the second race i have attended in this series and so far i think the driver quality is shockingly bad. I don't spend the best part of a week practicen on a track just to be run of the track on the first lap.

So fu.. the mclaren series i'm just going have some fun in the NEO endurance series instead.

While I understand your frustration, this series combine semi-endurance or GT racing (90 minutes with rolling start) with sprint races (45 minutes with standing start).

There will always be more drama on a standing start, specially with 42 cars, but if you check the SOF of the race and the SR of the drivers you will find it is quite high... and the drivers are quite the same you can find on NEO (extremely excellent and well organised series if you ask me).

If the drivers, talking as a whole, have to change something in regards to standing starts and sprint race management it's something to think about.

 

[Teemu Iivonen]

Congrats to my boy Enzo "Terminator" Bonito for another stellar win, and Rami for a strong run aswell!

I was not near Enzo in practice so even before the race I settled to aim for second place, and somehow managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat and do a personal best in qualifying by far, a 47.649, only 1 hundredth of him, this pretty much sums up my look when I saw the laptime:

Not the best of starts off the grid, Rami looked around the outside but managed to hold on to second, struggled to get in the zone and it took about 6-7 laps when I finally started to gap Rami by 2-3 seconds, and then screen decided to go black in T1 so I tried to blindly navigate off the racingline before the game would freeze and hoping I would not get hit by anyone, I didn't panic because that happened to me a few weeks before so I knew it would be back to normal after about 15 seconds and so it did, but I was down in 8th after that.

Chase was on to try and get as much points as possible out of the race, and after some nice racing with Risto, Ludvig, Riccardo, Angelo, John and others I managed to atleast get back on to the podium, a bit disappointed but overall happy for another great team result.

It seems like it was a bit chaotic further back in the grid. That sucks but it happens, especially on a night track where visibility is decreased, I had huge problems to see other cars. That doesn't mean that people can just drive how they want ofcourse, so if you feel you've been unfairly treated you should protest to get the causing driver to take it more easy next race.

Thanks to the STC/RD/SimRacingTeams administration for all their work, and GlacierTV for helping us promote this wonderful series.

 

[David Garcia]

I feel like the biggest idiot after that race. Was running in the top 10 for the first 3 laps and after an accident there was a slow car on my left heading into the final right hairpin. I was so focused on this car to make sure I was giving him room that I missed my braking point like an idiot and slammed into Paul Ilbrink. Very disappointing for me because I was running fast enough to be near the top 5 but far more disappointing for Paul I imagine because I completely ruined his race. Really sorry for that Paul, I am very ashamed.

These things happen in racing Jamie. Nobody wants the starring role, but I think everybody has been there from time to time.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Rasmus Laursen you can be frustrated after a race but in no means that justifies to start swearing against the series. Like Mark Warmington from the wise team of BFR said don't blame the series and those that have worked their asses off to facilitate you a fine organized series because of a driver mistake.

Rants like these don't help us to keep up the motivation to sacrifice our free Thursday nights (and all the rest of the days of preparation) every two weeks. A LOT of time goes into these series by various people and its all a voluntary job. Showing such disrespect I actually find more offensive than a driver mistake that can always happen in motorsport.

 

[Rami Kaukola]

Hi!
Quali: I did few bad lap's but luckyily p3 for me.My race was pretty easy and not possible to reach any higher without inex drivers misfortune which then became to Teemu,after that I was just trying to drive slowly in the middle of the track and finish the race P2 Congrats to Bonito whatta ride pro is pro
Thanks to the STC/RD/SimRacingTeams and all who have worked for this wonderfull series.
Ooh and big thank you RPM you let me drive this car Now I'll go back to BF3! see you again in a few years.

 

[David Garcia]

LOL RAMI! No way!

 

[Rasmus Laursen]

Rasmus Laursen you can be frustrated after a race but in no means that justifies to start swearing against the series. Like Mark Warmington from the wise team of BFR said don't blame the series and those that have worked their asses off to facilitate you a fine organized series because of a driver mistake.

Rants like these don't help us to keep up the motivation to sacrifice our free Thursday nights (and all the rest of the days of preparation) every two weeks. A LOT of time goes into these series by various people and its all a voluntary job. Showing such disrespect I actually find more offensive than a driver mistake that can always happen in motorsport.

Well then how would you feel if you joined two races and got run of the track before the race had even begun?

If i wanted to be in a wreck race i would join a MX5 race with rookie drivers.

And just to be clear i think it's great that some people take the time to organizers a race series and make it as professionel as possible

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Like I said you can be frustrated but its the way you ventilate those frustrations that are the problem.

Don't think that Alonso was happy when Grosjean almost took off his head in Spa last year but didn't read and see him complain with such strong words against Charlie Whiting and the FIA.

Neither did he continue in the WTCC but continued in F1 and almost became world champion and did it as a true gentleman.

 

[Philip Widdowson]

I should be angry that I feel I was unnecessarily t-boned at the start, but at the same time, I wasn't required to still be on that side of the track either... still the team did an excellent job replacing the damaged wheels on the right side of the car with some castor wheels so I could at least finish... and be slightly too helpful in letting people past.

People who are involved in incidents will always complain because they will always feel hard-done by it, complaining at the series is technically irrelevant, but it's not purely a driver's responsibility to improve the standards on track, driving standards really need to be enforced and they are here, but it will take time to see any real benefits as there will be anywhere between 40 and 120 drivers throughout the season... outside of endurance categories, NASCAR is the only series I can think of that is anywhere near the lower number of entries - assuming you don't count turning left as an "endurance".

 

[Xosé Estrada]

In the Race07 era of STC we managed to progressively increase the racing standards and we managed after two or three seasons when all drivers had some experience on the series, so I think Philip Widdowson is right about the last parragraph.

Now everything is new, teams, drivers, simulator, race format, marshalling... hopefully will keep improving.

At the end of the season we will evaluate the series toguether with the teams, and talk about possible changes in rules, cars, format, etc like we usually do, hopefully with this input we can make the series better and a non-frustrating experience for anybody, always having in mind that there will always be incidents while racing

 

[Xosé Estrada]

 

[Krzysztof Babij]

Historical result for Blue Flag Racing team. John Paquin finished on P4 what is really amazing! Thank you John!

 

[Eckhart von Glan]

three cheers for the Flaggers! well done old team, keep on pushing. moving over?