Paul Jeffrey
Premium
Following six incredible hours of action packed racing at Silverstone, the FEEDER Ragnar Simulator and FFT Corse teams have taken away the victory spoils in RDLMS by Vesaro, claiming top spot in the Prototype and GT classes respectively.
With rain threatening to play havoc with the running order throughout the event, it was left to a composed performance from Kuba Brzeziński, Nikodem Wisniewski,and Maciej Młynekand of FEEDER Ragnar Simulator to cruise to the chequered flag for their second consecutive victory of the 2017 RDLMS by Vesaro campaign, reaffirming their championship credentials and again showing the other prototype teams how to get it done in endurance racing. Claiming a perfect score from the opening exchanges of the new season, FEEDER Ragnar Simulator have displayed some ominous pace and that oh so vital maturity that sets the benchmark to which others must strive for the remainder of RDLMS by Vesaro Season 7.
Converting a commanding pole position into victory with over a lap in hand at the end of six hard hours of racing, FEEDER Ragnar Simulator never really looked likely to be challenged this weekend at Silverstone, incredibly leading all but three laps of the race and spending a remarkable 189 tours of the Northamptonshire circuit at the head of the prototype pack. After a performance like this it remains very difficult to look past the FEEDER Ragnar Simulator squad when for more success in the coming rounds, and ultimately in the quest to secure overall honours in this year's battle for ultimate championship honours.
FEEDER Ragnar Simulator now head the championship standings with a full house of 60 points, 19 ahead of nearest rivals in the form of the #2 SimTech Motorsport car. SimTech had another fruitful day at the office last weekend, locking down the second step on the rostrum and adding a crucial 25 points to the 16 secured for finishing in fifth place at the campaign opener at Interlargos. The final podium position in the Prototype class would eventually go to the #17 Drillers Motorsport car of Yohann Harth, Robin Bondon and Alexis Paradot following somewhat of an eventful race. Suffering from a unfortunate incident during the fourth hour of running on the hanger straight, the #2 Gibson 015S Nissan recovered to withstand late race pressure in the form of a challenge from the World of SimRacing Team to eventually bring the car home in third place, taking with it the 21 points and going some some way towards making up for the disappointment of retirement last time out at Interlargos.
Meanwhile in the Grand Touring class, a commanding performance from the #116 FFT Corse of Alen Terzic and Amedeo Fiorella led the Aston Martin GT to the top step of the rostrum at the close of the racing action here at Silverstone, and with that victory the team eventually add crucial points to the board following the disappointing no score last time out at Interlargos. FFT Corse produced an impeccable performance during the race, constantly showing strong pace and confident race craft throughout the whole event. With a maximum score to go with heading the GT class for the majority of the six hours of racing action, the talented outfit now find themselves right back in contention for a strong championship result heading into the final four races of the season.
Joining the podium celebrations at Silverstone would be one of the pre season GT favourites in the form of the #108 Apex Eclipse Aston Martin Vantage of Yuri Kasdorp and Joonas Raivio. Adding to their fourth place finish from round one, the team remain in a strong positon just five points shy of early championship pacesetters 11000 Bit Racing, who could only manage fourth place this weekend after their shock victory in the opening event of the year. Unlike the Prototype class, GT was a closely fought affair this time out with positions three through to seven finishing on the same lap after six solid hours of endurance sprint racing. In that final podium position would be the #119 HM Engineering Corvette C6.R of Arwin Taruna and Alexis Clapano, picking up valuable points and holding off the rapt attentions of the #120 11000 Bit Racing (winner of the GT class in Round 1), #121 RC MotorSport Team, #106 Talking Door Racing, and #115 AllStar-Racing Team who all finished hot on the heals of the beautifully liveried Corvette. To add further pressure to those in front, and testimony to the competitive nature of the GT class in general, the #107 MK Simsport team, the #105 Racers In Pyjamas car and the #103 TXL Racing entry were only a further lap behind the podium fight, showing just how incredibly tight the pace remains in this GT field at this moment in time.
New for round two of the season would be the decision by the event organisers to adjust the start procedure for this race. In an attempt by Race Control to prevent cars in different classes from getting mixed up amongst each other off the green flag, as well as to reduce the likelihood of incidents, the two classes would find themselves split by individual class specific safety cars, starting the race as separate groups and allowing each class to concentrate on their own inter division battle. The event organisers and participants alike considered this new initiative to be a success and the new start procedure will continue to be reviewed and adopted for following events.
Held under heavy cloud (it is Silverstone in May after all), the threatened rain never quite materialised in the end, with the sun breaking through as racing progressed and by the four hour mark we had a clear, sunny skies with temperatures hovering around the ~15-16°C until the end of the race.
The moderate temperature did little to cool down the tension on track however, with the opening couple of hours producing some chaotic action in parts, resulting in a number of incidents ranging from little knocks to big crashes. The first big incident involved the #24 TeamRGPL car driven by Zdenek Smarda and the #4 SpeedyMite Racing machine of Mark Breslin was concerning for both drivers after the #4 car had a spin at the inside exit of Chapel; sliding across the grass and finding itself collected by the luckless Breslin. Fortunately both vehicles avoided the need for major repairs and were able to re-join the action relatively in hindered.
Issues would also strike early for the #16 Team Comet car, suffering a sizable shunt with the wall at the exit of Chapel. Despite getting back out into the race following the Chapel accident that would not be the end of the problems for Comet, with an engine fire erupting during the fourth hour of the race putting a serious dent in their chances of securing a solid points finish. Fortunately for the team, the fire was put out quickly and the car managed to solider on for an eventual seventh place result. Considering the early setbacks suffered by the team this result will be seen as a satisfying recovery drive and a hatful of valuable championship points to add to the character building issues only going on to strengthen resolve ahead of Le Mans next time out.
Heading into hour three the race seemed to quieten down somewhat as the drivers begun to find their groove, and from that point there were very few incidents reports until the end of the race as the cars had spread out and everyone settled down to complete their own race programmes.
Unlike the first event, there were no major technical issues that affected this race, though there were some minor issues with the cut detection - specifically #24 TeamRGPL, #103 TXL Racing and #105 Racers in Pyjamas team who experienced problems with warnings (or rather the lack of) and penalties (some of which were unexpectedly harsh) issued for exceeding the circuit boundaries during the race. This was obviously disappointing to those affected and will be investigated with any necessary action taken to prevent similar such issues occurring again in future rounds of the series.
On the topic of strange technical issues, a couple of drivers, for some unknown reason, had their throttles fully depressed during their pit-stop, which in turn caused their engines to overheat and blow. Sadly this issue was the the cause of two retirements; one of these was a new entry in the form of the #124 Panda Racing team. A disappointing way to start a new campaign no doubt, Panda Racing will be able to take solace from the knowledge that this is all valuable experience gained and coupled with some very solid pace, we are sure the team will pick themselves back up and come back all the stronger at Le Mans in June.
Speaking of new teams, the #123 DR Motorsport car found themselves caught wanting as they entered the pit lane, running out of fuel as they left the active racetrack and recovering back to the garage to eventually refuel and continue the race, finishing last of the running GT cars but showing impressive pace improvement throughout the event.
Fellow GT debutants for Silverstone, Gentlemen Racers Spirit, had an equally difficult race as they suffered a sim related bug that restricted the #122 Aston Martin Vantage to the hard compound tyre. Despite the obvious disadvantage this caused the team they continued on to the finish of the race and classified a solid 13th in class, showing strong pace in several periods of the event .
Rounding out our new teams would be the #26 Frenchie Fox Racing car of Emmanuel Taphinaud
Theo Badry and Laurent Gueneau. Troubled with misfortune throughout the race, the team eventually crossed the line some 23 laps behind the race winner for 29th overall in the standings and 15th in class.
Sadly the #10 Dubai Sim Racing Team failed to show for the event, therefore their entry has been withdrawn from the championship by the league officials.
Prototype Class winners the #25 FEEDER Ragnar Simulator team of Nikodem Wisniewski, Kuba Brzezinski and Maciej Mlynek
GT class winners the #116 FFT Corse of Alen Terzic and Amedeo Fiorella
Thrustmaster 6 Hours of Silverstone Results:
- LMP #25 FEEDER Ragnar Simulator: Kuba Brzezinski, Nikodem Wisniewski, Maciej Mlynek
- LMP #2 SimTech Motorsport: Shane Burke, Max Melamed
- LMP #17 Drillers Motorsport: Yohann Harth, Robin Bondon, Alexis Paradot
- LMP #5 World of SimRacing Team: Adrian Subiela, Jose Berenguer, David Trueba
- LMP #4 SpeedyMite Racing: Mark Breslin, Geoffrey Fournier, Thomas Hinss
- LMP #15 Atlantic Motorsport: Adam Hodgkinson, James Wilson
- LMP #16 Team Comet: Damian Baldi, Daniel Gomez
- LMP #8 Talking Door Racing: Charles Baccio, Tobias Roehner
- LMP #11 MK Simsport: Tom Watts, Matt Beavis, Dan Long
- LMP #14 Sikania Endurance Motorsport: Daniele Pizzo, Roberto De Filippis, Franco Scalet
- LMP #24 TeamRGPL: Zdenek Smarda, Matej Surhanak, David Beranek
- LMP #6 RedShift Racing: Ricardo Umans, Daiman Patel
- LMP #23 Wild Weasel: Nate Idiens, Ignacio Hortal, Alistair Long
- GT #116 FFT Corse: Alen Terzic, Amedeo Fiorella
- GT #108 Apex Eclipse: Yuri Kasdorp, Joonas Raivio
- GT #119 HM Engineering: Arwin Taruna, Alexis Clapano
- GT #120 11000 Bit Racing: Kasper Stoltze, Lasse Ougaard, Peter Munkholm
- GT #121 RC MotorSport Team: Alvaro Baker, Alex De Mayo, Ian Navarro
- GT #106 Talking Door Racing: Enzo Fazzi, Matheus Machado
- GT #115 AllStar-Racing Team: Stefan Kanitz, Oliver Schlabs
- GT #107 MK Simsport: Edson Archela, Alex Archela
- GT #105 Racers In Pyjamas: Mike Davies, Christian Moreau
- GT #103 TXL Racing: Mark Greenall, Andrew Ford
- DNF LMP #12 Roaring Pipes Maniacs: John Souter, Chris Stacey, Christopher Aponte
- GT #104 Racing Club Endurance Team: Ivan Avinoa, Sergio Mengual
- GT #102 TeamRGPL: Michal Sedlacek, Petr Varmuzka
- GT #122 Gentlemen Racers Spirit: Sam Suffi, Stephane Perrin, Patrice Sayettat
- GT #114 RedShift Racing: Matt Horst, Johannes Melichar
- LMP #26 Frenchie Fox Racing: Emmanuel Taphinaud, Theo Badry, Laurent Gueneau
- LMP #18 KRT Racing: Richard Reckmann, Kreshnik Halili, Peter Stokman, Tom Lombaerts
- GT #118 RMI Motorsport: Michael Nelson, Roy Magnes, Jonatan Acerclinth
- GT #109 World of SimRacing Team: Miguel Angel Piqueras, Andros Alvarez, Andres Quintana
- GT #112 Team-GTRM: Attila Miklos, Peter Hummel, Akos Varga
- GT #117 Martini Racing Team: Victor Iruela Garrido, Juan Roguez, Claudio Barrera
- GT #123 DR Motorsport: Daryl Russell, John Nelson
DNF - Engine - LMP #21 KAMF Racing: Dany Ruggier, Douglas Simoneli
DNF - Engine - LMP #22 JIM Racing Team: Fermin Primitivo, Ruben Clavero, Antonio J. Vicens
DNF - DNF - LMP #3 SimTech International: Sherwin vd Sloot
DNF - Engine - GT #124 Panda Racing: Denis Marquardt, Luca Babetto
Provisional Drivers Championship Standings after Round 2 can be viewed on THIS LINK.
If you missed all the action on Saturday, or just want to relive the excitement of the race all over again, check out the full race replay on the RaceDepartment YouTube channel. Now ready for your viewing pleasure !
As part of the outstanding package of sponsorship we have available to give away all season in the RDLMS by Vesaro, we are delighted to confirm that it is not only the lucky drivers out on track who get to be winners this year. With the generosity of our race partners Thrustmaster, we are delighted to confirm that PaauullH is the proud recipient of Thrustmaster TH8A Shifter as prize for our 'follow us on Twitch' campaign. Of the eligible entries, PaauullH was selected via a draw with random numbers from the website random.org. Well done on winning this fantastic prize!
Understandably this is an exceptional reward from Thrustmaster, and with a 4,500 Euro Vesaro racing rig still to give away, what better reason do you need to keep tuning in to our broadcasts and subscribing to our channels on race day? Remember to subscribe and watch via our Twitch and YouTube channels to be in with a chance to win some of these amazing prizes from Vesaro and Thrustmaster. Oh and the racing looks great on the stream too!
Overall the second round of the 2017 RDLMS by Vesaro was yet another on track display of fantastic driving talent, commitment and skill as the teams, drivers, officials, broadcast crew and fans lived every moment of a roller coaster ride of highs and lows throughout the race. Offering up some spectacular on track fights and smart use of strategy and tyre preservation, the Thrustmaster Six Hours of Silverstone was a superb event that once again did all concerned proud.
Impressively of the 39 starters present for lights out only five cars failed to finish the race, with the last team to fall being the #12 Roaring Pipes Maniacs Prototype machine that expired due to technical issues only 20 minutes before the end of the race. Fortunately the car had completed over 75% of the race distance and thus have been classified in the final results and qualifies for championship points.
Next up we have the biggest challenge in all of motorsports, the main event, the jewel in the crown, the pinnacle of all pinnacles... the Le Mans 24 Hours! One of the most challenging events on the whole planet, the teams will be racing for 24 non stop hours around the punishing Circuit de la Sarthe in what is one of the most exhilarating races a sim racer can ever experience.
Join us once again to catch all the coverage live and uninterrupted on our Twitch and YouTube channels. It's going to be incredible....
See you all on the 24th June!
Last edited by a moderator:
