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Race Report: Afternoon session

We've re-launched our GT Championship in 2022 to create a more formal team race format with the six permanent teams, each led by a Gold-rated driver and a deputy - additional drivers are added on the day. Of course, with the unpredictability of Covid infections and the clash with Goodwood Festival of Speed, we had a few drivers missing. There were also a few car changes made after practice this morning. Race Control adjusted the teams accordingly...

   

After a five-minute practice session, the drivers who'd start the race took part in a 3-minute Super-pole session. Not that grid positions are very important in a 45-minute slot car race, but there was a bonus championship point up for grabs. This is what happened...

   

The race started and there was a Stop-Go penalty (the only one of the race) for the AST Better Gulf Porsche - penalising a false start. Dean subsequently struggled to get in a rhythm, but was soon past the WHAM! Racing Aston and chasing the rest of the pack. With new regulations this season requiring dislodged rear wings to be replaced in the pits within 5 laps, the Aston struggled massively. A third-choice car, no thought had been made to securing the wing and that certainly hampered what would have been a decent run for Isaac, who pitted half a dozen times for wing repairs. At the first driver change (15 minutes), AST One were on 60 laps, Sports Carazing on 58, Fundamentally Barley on 56 laps, Johnny's Workshop on 51, AST Better on 47 and WHAM! Racing on 38 laps. The fastest lap of the race so far was a 12.813 for AST One.

       

The new RCS64 set-up for the GT races has ultra-long pit stops, giving time for a tyre clean, a quick once-over and an unhurried hand-over of the controller. However, during this second fifteen minutes of the race, Johnny's Workshop would be frantically working to fix an ailing car - dropping them to the back of the field. The problem turned out to be the rear light board dislodging from the chassis and fouling the rear axle - the team was lucky not to blow up the digital chip. Eventually back on track, Terry had little opportunity to close the gap to the five cars in front. Solid stints for those teams gave these standings at 30 minutes: in the lead were Fundamentally Barley on 116 laps, Sports Carazing and AST One both on 115, AST Better on 99, WHAM! Racing on 97 and Johnny's Workshop on 78 laps.

       

The leading three teams had their big guns on the final leg - Mike, Alex and Gary fighting for the race win. Behind, Stephen and Kevin would fight for fourth and Jean would try to make up as much ground as possible. From early on, it looked like Gary and Alex had the better of Mike - the winner would be one of  the two Mercedes... they swapped fastest laps of the race, getting down into the mid 12-second range - Alex piling on the pressure to hang on to Gary, who was driving fast and without error. In ten minutes, Gary had taken the lead and stretched out an advantage of two laps over Alex. Mike was four laps further back. Despite Alex setting the fastest lap of the race - a 12.290 - in the final two minutes of the race, Gary brought the Sports Carazing Mercedes home to win. AST One were second, Fundamentally Barley third - then there was a gap to AST Better who finished five laps ahead of WHAM! Racing's Aston. Jean put in a strong final stint, but the Johnny's Workshop Mercedes ended up seven laps adrift in sixth...

   

And here are all the teams and their cars...

       

       

       

The end of the GT race left us with some Slot.it Group C action, plus the new Muscle Car Mondiale class to finish off the day...