After a hectic round-the-world racing itinerary, the gentleman racers of the RD GT Legends section have just completed Season 5 of the ongoing RD Historic Grand Prix series. One of RaceDepartment's most popular Leagues, the schedule took in 8 countries across 3 continents, comprising a wide array of track types - from the intricate arabesques and curlicues of Knutstorp to the uncompromising high speed sweeps of the 1988 layout of Sliverstone, culminating in the huge contrast of Bathurst's 1967 Mount Panorama, the terrifying Dipper followed soon after by the engine breaking Conrod straight.
This season, the League drivers had their choice of weapon from the TC-65 class of cars, from the broadsword (the heavy but high powered Ford Falcon), to the rapier (the light and nimble Mini Cooper S & Fiat Abarth TCR), from superbly balanced and Club proven all-rounders (Alfa Romeo GTA & Lotus Cortina) & the quirky outsider choices (Toyota Corolla & NSU TT).
RDHGP Season 5 has some impressive numbers:
i) 5 different winning drivers
ii) 3 different winning vehicles
iii) 30 drivers with classified points finishes
iv) Drivers representing 14 different countries (18 if you separate the UK countries)
v) All the drivers accrued a total of just 6 driver penalties in total (one of which was merely a warning)
These numbers prove why RDHGP is one of RD's premier Leagues, but only tell part of the story...
Race 1 - Circuit de la Neuveville - Switzerland
The blind, crested T5 dominates the track, but this can easily make drivers focus on it too much, and that is exactly what happened on the second lap, where there was a Turn 1 pile up that really shook up the order in the lower two thirds of the pack.
At the front of the pack, Krzyzstof Babij set the early pace before DNF-ing, allowing Season 4 Champion Peter Gog to capitalise in the Abarth for the win, with Ryan Callan in his Alfa in 2nd and Carlos Diaz rounding out the podium in his Abarth.
Race 2 - Knutstorp Motorbana - Sweden
A complex twisty track, with no time for rests during the 49 laps, this was the joint longest timed race of the 100km class. The demands and tight nature of the track meant that there were a few drivers who pushed too hard and ended up off track, again shaking up the race order.
Andreas Löffler dominated the race in his Cortina, taking the lead from lap 6, and never relinquishing it. Amir Margalit in his Abarth kept him honest right to the end, and Krzyzstof Babij put Race 1's disappointment behind him with a strong podium here, also in his Abarth.
Race 3 - Arctic Circle Raceway - Norway
The first of a run of wide, hilly, balanced tracks during the season, multiple lines were available to all drivers, allowing for each car to be driven exactly how to best benefit the performance characteristics.
Ryan Callan basically ran off and drove to a relatively stress free win in his Alfa, Andreas Löffler's Cortina coming in 2nd and Amir Margalit's Abarth in 3rd. The main racing action however, was mid pack this time, with less than 10 seconds splitting P7 to P12 after constant nose-to-tail racing from lap 4 to lap 27.
Race 4 - Mont Tremblant GP - Canada
The sharp hilly turns at Mont Tremblant meant that, for the first time in the season, a single car dominated the race. The light weight and good acceleration in the lower rev range of the Abarth meant that it was best suited to the Canadian challenge, and took the top 4 places.
Carlos Diaz took the win, picking up a fastest lap point along the way by just over a second from pole sitter Peter Gog after a race long nip and tuck battle, with Amir Margalit continuing his consistent results less than 10 seconds back in third.
Race 5 - Barber Motorsports Park GP - USA
One of the firm GT Legends Racing Club favourites, this track always throws up good racing, with the corkscrew at the back of the track always presenting a challenge that drivers simply cannot be complacent about.
Andreas Löffler became the first RDHGP driver this season to win a second race in his Cortina, with Krzyzstof Babij (Abarth) in second, and that man Amir Margalit (Abarth) again getting big podium points in third.
Race 6 - Silverstone GP 1988 - UK
A fast, relatively flat and sweeping track in contrast to the preceding ones, this track puts a premium on high speed stability and acceleration, and it was a surprise to all when the Abarth dominated the podium ahead of the fancied Alfas & Cortinas. Less surprising was the Ford Falcon suddenly becoming competitve for Gary Lennon, who had soldiered on at less than ideal tracks for this car since Race 1.
Amir Margalit stepped up his points accumulation by reaching the top step this time, with Carlos Diaz just 0.5 seconds behind, with Krzyzstof Babij taking 3rd, completing the Fiat 1-2-3, just keping his nose ahead of the resurgent Falcon of Lennon.
Race 7 - Circuits de Charade - France
A fearsomely busy track, a combination of Knutstorp's complexity around Mont Tremblant's length and sharp gradients, this was the other joint longest 100km event. Most drivers commented that this was the hardest race physically for them. This difficulty meant that 2 new faces made the pdoium thanks to their exemplary consistency.
Amir Margalit (Abarth) cemented his Championship-leading standing with another dominant win, with David Cuthill (Abarth) taking 2nd and Martin Vrba (Cortina) completing the top 3.
Margalit's high scoring consistency meant that he was in an almost unassailable positon atop the Championship standings after Round 7. He was on 150 points with his closest challengers Carlos Diaz, Andreas Löffler, Ryan Callan & Krzyzstof Babij on 106, 105, 99 & 99 points respectively.
As the season finale was a double length, double points scoring event, there were theoretically a maximum of 52 points available (50 for the win + 1 for pole + 1 for fastest lap), and with online racing being notoriously dependent on connectivity, if Amir had any inopportune disconnects during the course of the final race, one of the others could still pounce and take the title away from under his nose.
Race 8 - Mount Panorama 67 - Australia
As the final race came around, 2 of the potential League winners were immediately out of the running due to their non-attendance. Carlos Diaz & Ryan Callan could not make the finale, leaving the Championship title a 3 horse race between strong favourite Margalit, and longshots Löffler & Babij.
Krzyzstof Babij struck the first blow by taking the first possible bonus point for getting onto Pole for the race. As expected, the Ace of Spades Falcon of Gary Lennon was relishing the 1967 layout of Bathurst, with the enormously long Conrod, without the Cutting "elbow", allowing it to really stretch it's legs, giving it a greater than 30kmh advantage over all other vehicles. Gary hustled the Falcon into P2 on the grid by less than 0.5 sec, Amir a further 0.5 sec back in 3rd.
The top 10 on the grid comprised 4 Abarths, 3 Alfas, 2 Cortinas, and of course, that enormous Falcon.
As the Green lights came on, the demands of the 67 layout became apparent, the extra long gears required to make Conrod workable bogging down some starters, allowing Gary's Falcon, and Stuart Thomson's Abarth to get a jump on the pack and take off up the Mountain Straight.
The disparate characters of these two cars soon becomes apparent, the Falcon taking off like a scalded cat up Mountain and down Conrod, with the Abarth making all that time up through the turns, going through them fleet of foot, hard on the gas, able to brake very late and thrown in with absolute confidence.
Further down the field, the contrasting nature of the circuit caught some drivers out, David Cuthill clipping the inside wall just before the Dipper, flipping his Abarth into a frankly impressive somersault, with 2 Alfa drivers (Steven palmer & Bob Hutchins) driving underneath the flying Scot.
The top 2 built a gap while the championship contenders were fighting it out for P3. Krzyzstof made the first move here, getting into 3rd and breaking away from Amir and closing in on the front two. Stuart had a small wobble which thankfully didn't affect Krzyzstof's progress and he slipped into P2 chasing Gary's Falcon. While Krzyzstof still had an outside chance of the title, he still needed several things to go his way, not least of these being a Margalit DNF. This wasn't looking likely, as Amir closed in slowly on Stuart in P3, but not getting close enough to pass until Stuart made his pitstop.
This put Amir in P3, but the title battle took another swing when Krzyzstof threw in the fatest lap for another (potential) point. He still needed a win to have a chance of the title, but he pushed slightly too hard and went over a fence near Skyline corner. He managed to maintain P2 but Gary now had a large gap out front. Krzyzstof had to pit, but unfortunately he didn't quite get the pitstop to initiate, and had to do another lap. He then tried again on the next lap, but he still couldn't get the ptistop to initiate, and so he decided to quit in his damaged Abarth, effectively handing the title to Amir, as the only other running contender, Andreas, was too far back in the current standings to have any chance.
Gary then pitted, but clipped the wall going into the pits and had to quickly recover, costing him well over 10 seconds, slotting him back into the pack in 4th, behind Jay Adgie leading in his Cortina that hadn't stopped, and the Abarths of Amir in P2 & Stuart in P3. With only a relatively short stint left in the race, and on fresh rubber, Gary was able to attack the twistier parts of the track with much more abandon, reducing the Abarths' advantage through those parts, and maximising his advantage on the long, long straights. We was able to get past Stuart down Conrod, and promptly disappeared over the horizon.
As the race entered it's closing stages, Jay's Cortina finally needed a drink, and so he pulled in to make his pitstop. This put Amir in P1, Gary in P2 and Stuart completing the podium in P3.
That was the way the race ended, Amir's haul, along with the misfortunes of his closest rivals, absolutely putting a cherry on top of his season, taking his tally up to a round 200 points, with the Cortinas of joint 2nd place finishers Andreas Löffler and Martin Vrba both on 133points, giving Amir an impressive winning margin of 67 points.
The RDHGP reconvenes in October for it's winter season, Season 6, where it moves up 2 classes to the newly formed GTC72 class. If this season is any indication, it will be yet another classic.
