rF2 FSONE 2009 @ Paul Ricard (GT) - Sun Sep 12th 2010

[Mattia Gottardi]

was a nice and fun race....wasn't able to do race 2 coz need to go, but thank you all for the fights and for the fun!!!!

and congratz to the podium and to all the guys that took part to the race!!!

 

[Toby Davis]

Adam I'm so sorry man, I got sideways and overcorrected, totally my fault
I waited but you got stuck, so I've quit now to balance it out, but I'm really sorry dude. I was desperate to keep my nose clean in my first event back

 

[Ronald Gaviola]

i messed up on formation lap on race2 ! didn't know how to start from pit, exited and it was red light lol. DQ!

this is my first f1 race! it was fun and you guys are sooo fast!! will join next races for sure if there will be more

 

[Lee Palmer]

Wow that was fun. Had good pace and took pole in race 1. Got a good start but went deep into turn 1 and Toby managed to get past. Enjoyed probably the best battles I've had at RD with him for 10 mins or so before me running wide at turn 2 onto the stupid tarmac. Lost control lost fw, rw and bent two wheels. Was a challenge to drive straight but finished 10th I think

Ran out of fuel in qualifying and so had to make do with a 36.6 which put me 4th. Got a good start past Toby and was alongside Adam into turn 1, had to back out of it and Toby got back past turn two. Those two then had a bit of a tangle which I avoided. Managed to slowly catch Chris back up. The battle I had with him then took the mantelpiece of best battle at RD . Lasted the whole race was really fun and clean. Couldn't quite make my passes stick and lsot positions next few corners. Was epic .

Welldone to Chris for both race wins today. And thanks for race two (good battle and we didn't take each other off :O ).

Thanks Ivo, all who raced, (Remco?) for admin during the session and of course RD.

 

[Daniel Higgins]

Race 1: Couldn't see lights at start (2nd race I did but very faint) so poor start, then my SLI-M was for some reason on full brightness and had to try to plug cable out of side of wheel whilst driving Had a couple of mini battles and was generally ok.

Race2: This race was my best ever on RD (in terms of enjoyment). Lost 2 positions at start but a couple of people spun out infront so it balanced it out. Started P11 just behind Martin and thats where I was for the whole race, under his rear wing, constantly battling. This was helped by the fact that I think Martin got yellow front wing damage at the start. Great racing with him as ever.

Overall fantastic racing guys, cant wait for next one.
Thanks for setting it up.


Dan.

 

[Morten Wernersen]

During practice i managed to do a 1.34.8.. with low fuel so i was hoping for a good race.

Qualy1: managed 4'th i think

Race1: Got a good start, better than expected the rear tires spin easily on these cars, but I spun off the track, and lost some places and then gained as others went off and ended up in about 4th? I think.

Qualy2: 5th

Had an even better start than race one, and was about 3rd place, I spun off the track lost a place but got it back as the car in front made a mistake, so now in third again I kept my concentration and pulled away from the cars behind and ended up in 3rd.

Had 2 fun races, but you have to keep you're nerve when driving these cars it's not easy

 

[Chris Butcher]

Managed to slowly catch Chris back up. The battle I had with him then took the mantelpiece of best battle at RD

Wow, thanks very much Lee I have to say that's one of the fairest battles i've ever been involved in and cetrainly, for me, the best one at RD so far

Qualifying 1, I knew I was quick from practice, although I thought maybe I could only get second because I saw someone in the 34's. In qualy it quickly became evident that was done one low fuel, and my choice of super-softs didn't pay off and spun on both my quick laps, so had to settle for 13th. Got a good start to race 1, seems like everyone was sleeping, and was up to 9th by turn 1. People going off the track promoted me to about 7th I think, but later in the lap Ozan went wide and I spun avoiding him, had to wait for the entire field to go through. The next 19 minutes was all about speed and consistency, and I quickly caught the cars in front, who were all busy having their own battle and allowed me (surprisingly) to get past quite quickly. Kept putting in the good laps. I knew from talking to Toby on TS that he and Lee were locked in a good battle. I was desparate to catch them but unfortunately he span out which gave me another position. Mattia and a few other drivers were all battling, I was stuck behind them for a few laps but eventually managed to muscle through. Then it was a clear track to Toby, I caught him at about 2s a lap, was looking forward to a great battle with him. Unfortunately, when I did catch him he made a mistake which allowed me through, then on the next corner he applied a bit too much throttle, span into the wall and wrecked. Then it was just a case of bringing the car home

Qualifying 2, I had learned from my mistake and qualified on softs, which easily gave me pole, my first ever in an RD event. I was actually quite nervous as I had never controlled the pace of a formation lap before. All went well (I think) and got another clean getaway in race 2. After the first lap I pulled about a second lead but in the opening stages of the race I didn't seem to have the same pace as the last race and Lee caught me, for a few laps I managed to keep him behind but he slipstreamed past on one of the straights, which signalled the start of an awesome battle, with many position changes, very good overtakes and defensive driving by Lee throughout the whole race. I managed to get back in front and kept it there, although Lee was never more than a second behind. The unrelenting pressure meant I kept making a few mistakes, which allowed him to get within 3 tenths of me. Last lap, I went wide at the double right hander and felt sure that Lee would past me, but he didn't, to me looked as though he struggled to get the power down, then I just had to drive as quick as I could to the line, I knew one mistake from me would hand Lee a wel-deserved win. I managed to cross the line in first 1s ahead of Lee.

My thanks have to go out to everyone today, in general we saw good clean racing (ask Toby, I'm normally shouting on TS about how someone is driving like an idiot) but most of all to Lee for the best battle I've had on track during my time at RD, good hard, clean and fair racing. and yeah, at least we didn't crash into each other like in Hungary

Thanks again to Ivo for the great organisation, Remco for being admin and again, the entire RD community

 

[Adam Eggbeer]

Miserable night for me. Practice I knew I was going to be somewhere near the front as I was doing 35's with race fuel.

Quali 1: Didn't take part as the phone rang at the start of the session.

Race 1: I was 16th on the grid but on the formation lap, a group of cars were stationary at the last corner. I just managed to stop the car but the guy behind slammed into the back of me, damaging the rear wing and suspension. The car was now pulling to the right quite a bit (I really wish people wouldn't do brake tests and burnouts on the formation lap as it causes accidents like this). Made a good start but had to go right else I would of hit Chris who seemed to get a slow start. Ended up going over the blue gravel on the inside. Rolled up to turn 1 to see cars everywhere and at turn 2 I had to slow right up as some cars were rejoining the track. I managed to avoid the collisions then at turn 8 there was another 3 cars who seemed to have hot one another sprayed out across the track. Luckily managed to avoid them as well. I was struggling with speed with the aero damage and the car pulling to the right which allowed Chris just to Cruise by without me being able to fight him off. Got past Dan, had a detour and got past him again. Made my way past other people who had gone off and had a small squabble with Morten and Jakub. Got past both of them when they made mistakes and I came home in third. It was absolute chaos the whole race.

Quali 2: Did an Okish lap to take second. I knew I had a lot more speed in the car.

Race 2: Made a good start. Lee tried to squeeze past on the right down to the first corner but I was able to hold him off. Ran a bit deep into turn 1 but kept it on the track. Negotiated turn 2 cleanly then got hit in the side on the exit. Slammed side on into the wall damaging the suspension, then the car spun on the bumpy gravel and went nose first into the wall ripping off the front wing. As the car stopped spinning I got beached on the bumpy gravel and blew my engine trying to move. Race Over.

Thanks to Ivo, Remco, and RD.