Japan
With just 4 races to go in the championship those who are aiming for the title need to stand up now. There’s no more time for mistakes, big points need to be scored now every remaining race. And thus you want to qualify as much up front as you can to give yourself the possible position to start the race. Once again it was Greek driver Athanasiou who did that best and took pole position. For the third time this season he was the best over one lap. His biggest challenge in races usually is to overcome the race strategy given by his engineer, or not to get into trouble on track. Next to him on the front row is defending champion Evan, with Hayward and BeniBunno on row 2. Nellboy once again failed to set a proper time in quali and had to start from the last row.
When the red lights went out Evan had the best start and took the lead right away, but that didn’t last very long, as Athanasiou took the lead again a lap later and that was the start of a fierce battle between these two drivers. On lap 4 when Evan had taken the lead again, he made a mistake into turn 1 as he ran wide and when he returned to track he collided with the Greek driver and they both went into the grass losing many positions. Beni was laughing the hardest about this as he not just only overtook the two front runners but also Hayward and went from fourth to first in one corner.
In lap 9 there was an incident that shook up the race quite a bit. Haas driver Bogarovski ran wide on turn 1, returned to track just ahead of Mikey, who then couldn’t avoid Bog when braking for the next corner. As a result Mikey had damgage, while Bogarovski hit the wall and completely lost his front wing, but was able to continue eventually. The situation did make the race director decide to bring out the safety car. It shook up the field quite a bit as Bogarovski’s teammate Nellboy did not pit and inherited a second place as a result, behind Ferrari driver Wazza. After the restart it didn’t take long before Nellboy took the lead with Benibunno right behind him. In lap 17 another moment of good fortune happened to Nellboy as Mikey for the second time this race caused a SC. Nell, who hadn’t pitted so far now was able to make a free pit stop as everyone else behind him did so too and could hold on to the lead. For the remainder of the race, even with another SC coming out on lap lap 24 Benibunno did everything he could to make it as difficult as possible for Nellboy, but was unable to pass him, giving Nell his fourth win of the season, whil Beni took his fifth podium out of seven races. The podium was completed by Hayward, who overtook Maridako on the final lap giving Williams their only podium so far.
Results
Standings
With just three races to go the title fight seems to a two man fight between Nellboy and BeniBunno, but Evan is not too far away and remember that last season Evan was in a very similar position and eventually took the title on the final race.
In Division 2 has been the most consistent big point scorer over the season so far, McLaren driver Hammers. Despite being challenged in most races by the likes of Bobspun, Paqman, HummerGP and Brother Adam, none of them has been able to do this every race. Hammers’ worst result so far was at the Monaco GP with a fourth place. As we head to Japan once again the Ferrari broterly duo of Paqman and Berzerk were not around, making life easier for everyone else. Hottest driver at the moment however is HummerGP who in the last three races all ended up on the podium, with even two wins. If he were to continue this streak he could maybe even challenge Hammers for the title.
The best driver in Qualifying was Bobspun who had a phenomenal session and took pole position for the second time this season with a gap of nearly four tenths to second placed Hammers and with Connor and HummerGP on second row.
When the race went underway Scully once again had a brilliant start and moved up from eleventh to seventh, while Hammers’ team mate Bogarovski moved in the opposite as he had to avoid several cars at turn 1. During an early SC on lap 2 Bobspun wasn’t paying attention enough to the delta and got himself a drive through penalty as a result and not much later he made another mistake and crashed into a wall on the back straight taking him out of the race at all. This caused another VSC and this time Hammers was the one getting a drive through penalty. Hammers took it on the chin, served it and dropped to last place. This all opened up the path for another glorious win for HummerGP who now took the lead and was only increasing it to second and third place drivers Connor and Manlikedonkey.
As the race progressed both McLaren drivers worked they way forward with Bogarovski in fourth and fidth halfway through the race. After the pit stops they switched positions, but the race seemed to be an easy win for HummerGP, who was looking to take his third win on four races. This was however until Dubble lost the car, retired and a SC was brought out. HummerGP and Connor decided to pit for fresh tyres even though there were only a few laps to go, dropping them to fourth and fifth, whi Manlikedonkey, Hammers and Bogarovski all stayed out and took the first three positions in the race.
When the race restarted with only 3 laps to go HummerGP was very eager to make up the lost positions, but misjudged the braking point of the car ahead in turn 1 and damaged his front win while doing so. This meant that the top three were basically free to race each other and could fight for the win. Hammers made the race winning move on the chicane with just a lap to go and Manlikedonkey was unable to counter but did manage to pevent a McLaren one-two finish.
Result
Standings
Hammers now has a 65 point lead with just three races to go and looks to be clinching it early on while he most likely will take the double as his team is leading very comfortable in the constructors championship as well.
Next week we go to Brazil, Interlagos. See you there!
