World Trophy Report: Backmarker Chaos in Hungary!

[Ben Jacobs]

Tusting clinches a chaotic Hungarian GP

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British driver Ben Tusting guided his GT Omega Racing car through a frantic and controversial race in Budapest to take 50 points in the Formula SimRacing World Trophy, whilst Championship Leader Ivar Kalamees' podium hopes were dashed in a penultimate lap incident.


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The Hungaroring came alive this Sunday afternoon when 24 Drivers all took to the tight and twisty tarmac in the 11th round of the FSR World Trophy, bringing fans a race to remember.


It was, however, a race to forget for a number of the drivers, with the chaos starting before the red lights had even gone out; on the formation lap. Numerous drivers have complained of unsporting brake testing, and it was clear for all to see that alot of the cars suffered heavily with overheating on the grid due to the long wait for the light sequence to begin.

"Lapped cars did a bad job today"

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"Tyres were cold because cars were braking hard and bunching up too much, then on the grid the car was overheating" said the Team Principle of Knight Racing, Chris Knight, and the direct effect of these problems was immediately seen as the back of the grid arrived at turn one, where carnage unfolded in a matter of seconds.

"Chaos"


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Once the lead-lap cars were able to clear the trouble, however, they found themselves with the problem of badly damaged backmarkers scampering around the circuit, and a number of drivers have expressed their concern regarding the slower cars. "You really need to be aware of your surroundings" warned GS Pro Engineering driver Joona Lappaenen as he added his voice to the myriad of those discontented.

An unexpected engine blowout causes chaos for
the lead lap vehicles.

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The race itself played host to some brilliant wheel to wheel racing around the Hungaroring, with ultimate race winner Ben Tusting fighting his way from a 7th position grid slot, and Philipp Pushke achieving a well-earned top 5 finish in the Revolution Motorsports car to prove that overtaking really is possible around this crowded track.

"Controversy"


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Another incident (pictured above) involving blue-flag conditions occured on lap 51 when Danny Van Der Niet's engine gave way in front of 2nd place man Ivar Kalamees, ending his race in dramatic fashion when the two cars collided heavily.


The incident overshadowed what had been a constantly evolving three-way battle for 1st position between Tusting, Kalamees and Aalberts that was set to give the fans a nail-biting climax to the 53 lap race which had provided some admirable driving. Throughout the closing stages of the race Tusting's lead was consistently challenged by drivers on the absolute limit, providing excellent spectacle.

Carnage unfolds at Turn One.
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Despite this fantastic racing at the front of the field, Sunday's race must no doubt raise a number of concerns within the World Trophy, with similar accidents inevitable in the remainder of this season which will see 26-car grids battling it out at the likes of Spa-Francorchamps and Yas-Marina.


Tusting's victory leaves GT Omega Racing at the top of the Constructors Championship by just one point, and Kalamees leading Mallorqui by just 14 points. With 250 points still on offer for the drivers, the Championship is all to play for!

The Formula SimRacng World Trophy meets again in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium on the 4th September.


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[Mikko Puumalainen]

Very nice, we should put this on the website :thumb:

 

[Chris Knight]

good work dude I like my quotes lol.

I cant wait to see davids take on these incidents. He has his work cut out for him this round.

 

[Pedro Rodrigues]

Very nice article. I agree with Mikko! Well done!

 

[Mark Aalberts]

People need to learn to control the car with cold tyres and heavy fuell load realy especialy on these hard tyres. Lining up took rather long, but what do you think about the top drivers who even have to wait longer and start with even colder tyres yet they get underway without to much of troubles. Also the warming of the tyres especialy hard tyres almost has no sence of trying to heat them up, you only mess up the engine with revving if you do that and the less experienced drivers usual mess up the formation to by trying to heat things up. At Nurburgring this happend, where 2nd man Ben was actualy leaving a big gap behind me wich forced me to slow down i probably should have protested that one but i didnt as i won the race. And as mentioned in the broadcast by the co comentator who asked himself the question why i was not warming up the tyres, there you have it. I rather prefer a fast formation lap, the less time it takes the less time youre tyres have to cool down and a lap on speed the tyres dont realy get a chance to cool down and you have less tyre wear to.

Anyway to all those who have troubles in the first lap i realy advise to fuell up youre car let the tyre temp drop down and do some laps to get fimilair with a heavy car on cold tyres.

 

[Ben Jacobs]

2nd man Ben was actualy leaving a big gap behind me wich forced me to slow down i probably should have protested that one but i didnt as i won the race. And as mentioned in the broadcast by the co comentator who asked himself the question why i was not warming up the tyres, there you have it.

Aha, yeah I did think it was strange that you weren't making efforts to warm the tyres up!

Thanks for the positive feedback guys - I'll hopefully publish articles similar to this for all the races and any other news that arrives. I would do Race Edits but unfortunately my video editing skills are extremely poor!

 

[Ben Tusting]

I was saving fuel ,i wasn't going that slowly! not like some other drivers at other rounds, where we came to a standstill! + Hard Tyres at Nurby?

Hungary was bad, they were like ICE blocks at the start

People need to learn to control the car with cold tyres and heavy fuell load realy especialy on these hard tyres. Lining up took rather long, but what do you think about the top drivers who even have to wait longer and start with even colder tyres yet they get underway without to much of troubles. Also the warming of the tyres especialy hard tyres almost has no sence of trying to heat them up, you only mess up the engine with revving if you do that and the less experienced drivers usual mess up the formation to by trying to heat things up. At Nurburgring this happend, where 2nd man Ben was actualy leaving a big gap behind me wich forced me to slow down i probably should have protested that one but i didnt as i won the race. And as mentioned in the broadcast by the co comentator who asked himself the question why i was not warming up the tyres, there you have it. I rather prefer a fast formation lap, the less time it takes the less time youre tyres have to cool down and a lap on speed the tyres dont realy get a chance to cool down and you have less tyre wear to.

Anyway to all those who have troubles in the first lap i realy advise to fuell up youre car let the tyre temp drop down and do some laps to get fimilair with a heavy car on cold tyres.

 

[Philipp Puschke]

Great!

 

[Ivar Kalamees]

WT People/teams should really test their engine wear more carefully (if they even do test it now) before the race. It's quite weird to see someone blowing their engine 21 laps before the end (Fugl Racing Team's Bryan van Berlo), and even 9 laps before the end is way too early. It takes no time to test it before the race, and keeps away a chance to ruin someone's race tbh.

 

[Mark Aalberts]

I was saving fuel ,i wasn't going that slowly! not like some other drivers at other rounds, where we came to a standstill! + Hard Tyres at Nurby?

Hungary was bad, they were like ICE blocks at the start

Ah well, i think Pole man is pace setter and he should set pace, people behind shouldnt let the gap become to big just my opinion think its this way in real to. And yeah hards on Nurburgring?? dont think i said i used them lol although i might say it a bit weird there. Was just refering to the slow warming up of tyres about why i prefer to do a quick formation lap thats all.