David O'Reilly
A bad quali means I can go forwards in the race.
The Formula-SimRacing Winter Series is both a warm up for the established drivers in FSR and unusually sees the drivers from all three categories Championship, Ace and Pro on the same grid. Some of the drivers will be moving up a category for 2015 and this is an opportunity to see how they will shape up against their new competition. Its also free of charge to compete and open to all. So is a test run or proving ground for any aspiring driver who wants to check it out and test their mettle against drivers, who it can be said are some of the best in the world.
Race
Despite a hard charge from Patrick de Wit, Kuba Brezinski converted pole into the all important lead on the first turn of lap one. Running strongly and in clean air he was chased very hard and close by De Wit. The Dutchman pressured hard and seemingly did not want to know about dirty air and was still within half a second after fourteen laps.
Newcomer Wisniewski impressed some established drivers with a fourth position in qualifying and after passing Parisis ran as high as third but his race ended early.
This importantly left Parisis in P3 with clear air and only a few seconds to make up to the lead pair. Parisis drove a smooth and measured attack and seemed to keep his tyres in good shape for the planned battle ahead.
The sustained attack on Brezinski in dirty air seemed to have taken a lot out of De Wit's tyres and at lap 20 Parisis was on him. The first attack into turn one was repulsed but on lap 22 Parisis was through. The lead trio had pulled a twenty second gap to driver in fourth position.
Brzezinski had hoped to beat De Wit to even their series points after Magny Cours, having Parisis between them was an added bonus.
There were many battles and strong performances through the field. To name a few: Prieto was running in fourth until terminal damage late in the race.
Van der Niet had an attacking drive and made many passes over the race to end in P6. Heesterbeck and Algpeus battled hard for fourth position with Heesterbeck finally prevailing. Hoyers race was hurt on the first corner of lap one, but he fought back well for seventh position. Winter managed to climb all the way seventh position in the opening laps finishing in P9. The top ten was rounded out by Fournier with a solid drive.
Standings after race two
1 Kuba Brzezinski
2 Jim Parisis
3 Patrick De Wit
4 Ruud Heesterbeek
5 Alari Algpeus
6 Danny van der Niet
7 Michi Hoyer
8 Sander Kallas
9 Georg Winter
10 Geoffrey Fournier
11 Marcel Gerber
12 Philipp König
13 David Cook
14 Thomas Mundy
15 Martin Bulgin
16 Will Barnes
Post-Race Talk
After the race De Wit complimented Brzezinski and said that he left him not one opportunity for an attack. High praise from an exprienced FSR WC driver.
Well Kuba, congratulations on the win. How did it stack up compared to your plans?
“Obviously the goal was to win the race or finish ahead of Patrick De Wit at the very least. The race was pretty simple after I managed to get pole. I just had to make sure to keep my tyres in good shape and keep Patrick behind. It worked out even better because he destroyed his tyres in my dirty air and Jim Parisis was able to get him so from that point I only had to manage the gap and bring it home. Pressure was immense today but consistency won me that race”.
Now its only one week till Hungary, what is the plan there?
“Goal for the next race is to win it so that I will be able to finish in P2 in the last one and still win the title”.
Kuba, 2015 will be your first tilt at the FSR World Championship do you feel any different about 2015 now you have battled with some current WC drivers?
“I'm more confident that I will be competitive. It's great to be able to fight with guys like Jim and Patrick and beat them. I hope we can raise a few eyebrows and get some top fives in World Championship this season”.
Passing further down pit lane we find Michi Hoyer who was spun on lap one.
How are you feeling about the race Michi?
“Well coming in, the fixed set up made the car almost impossible to control at turn 6 and 7 but I learned it and went for it. Qualifying was virtually a personal best for sixth. After T1 I was P18 and I had to fight some fast guys like Gerber and Kallas in order to regain my positions. In the end my tires were more or less blown off and I had to admit that P7 hasn't been the maximum of that race. With two guys less than 1,5 seconds ahead in the finish it was okay and I had an enjoyable race. Fighting back is sometimes nicer rather than keeping 4th position with no pressure at all."
I was impressed of Kuba's Driving to maintain the lead with a steady pressure of De Wit and of course Parisis who remained calm and focused and had his chance in the last couple of laps in the race. very professional driving of all the top 3 guys there”, Hoyer concluded.
Don't forget to check out next week's broadcast of round three coming to you live from the Hungaroring in Budapest.
For more information on the FSR Winter Series and how you can participate yourself. Check us out here.
