Monza Race Reports

Qualifying – P9
Sprint – P7
Feature – P2

Couldn’t get it done in time for qualifying. I thought that maybe 8th was possible as I was only a few tenths off, but as the session ended the time was coming as the track conditions had degraded too much. Pace was okay – Will’s setup making the difference as always.

Start of the sprint race was good. There was always going to be some touches at the first chicane but largely everyone kept it clean and I was running in 7th behind Dave and Peter. The track was changing a lot with most of the apexes being a death trap but managed to keep it clean and jump others in their stops for damage repair. Towards the end I was closing on Peter who had damage, with Will not too far behind closing down fast. I managed to get past Pete with no issues (cheers again, good Sir), but a few corners later, I binned it coming out of Variante. Not too much damage, but enough to warrant a stop as braking was all over the place. After a stop and a very close call with my team mate (code brown!!) I came in for 7th. Could have been more but points none the less.

Started in 4th for the Feature. My team mate, Will, had a mare with approaching his pit box by giving Dan a love tap – complete accident, I feel for you both. Both had damage before the ‘lights’ went out. When we got going, I jumped both Dan and Dave ahead of me and had a look at Adam, however I couldn’t hold the line and held in for second place despite some heroic braking! I kept things clean, keeping pace with Adam for the first 10/15 laps but dropped off as he was too quick for me. Dave jumped me at my stop as he was only around 7/8 seconds behind. Seemed to be a similar case in Le Mans where we were trading times for a number of laps.

Second stint was great – again no mistakes and solid enough pace. Could have found more time in the car I think but didn’t want to push it. Towards the end I jumped Dave in the stops and held the gap. Really good racing again mate – long may that continue. Bit of a close call with Pete but I think I was so focused on not hitting I may have barked a little; apologies!

Best finish ever in any of the XRF races I’ve done – you’re all a great bunch to race with so thanks for last night and I look forward to the next. Team Panasonic for the win.

Rich

Q - P1
S - DNF
F - P1

Qualifying went very well, the most important thing was to make sure you were on track when the track started to dry which I managed and put in a good lap and beat Will to pole by less than a tenth.

The start to the sprint race was interesting. I had quite a bit of wheel spin but managed to get it under control and got some good traction once I was in 3rd but Dave had an amazing start and was beside me going into to turn 1. He had the inside on the first part of the chicane but we both held our lines and that gave me the advantage on the exit. Dave was staying with me pretty well for the first few laps but then I started to pull a bit of a gap and he had his incident which put Will in P2 and he started to cut into my lead. I can't remember if this happened on the same lap or they were one lap apart but Will had a bit of a moment in the second chicane which gave me a bit of a bigger gap but coming out of the second lesmo Ian was passing Dave who was going slowly and I was going around his left going down the straight but misjudged where my left front was and clipped the curb and it spun me into the right wall and back on to the track. Unfortunately Will hit me after that which put me on my head and gave him quite a bit of damage I'm sure. No one to blame but myself for the DNF. Great job by Bryan for the win and Karl and Carmelo for their podium finish!

My DNF in the sprint race gave me pole for the feature race. I had a much better start this time but or a split second I thought Richard was going to send it into the first corner but he was just better on the brakes than I was and was able to brake later. Richard was keeping me pretty honest for the first few laps but I was able to start pulling a gap on him and Dave after that. I fully fueled at the start of the race in case the track dried at the end and slicks were a possibility but with about 20 minutes left it seemed like that wouldn't be the case so I went ahead and pitted and over fueled out of caution. Big difference for me between the two races was when the heavier ran came in the feature race I was able to keep it together and only make a couple small mistakes. When the track really started drying out at the end I started pushing thinking I could take the fastest lap but made a couple mistakes and decided it wasn't worth the risk and backed it down. Turned out to be the right decision since Karl and Will had both put in incredible laps I wouldn't have been able to touch. This was almost certainly the best race I've ever had and am thrilled to win it. Congrats to Richard and Dave for their podium finish!

Qualy P7
Sprint P1
Feature P7

Q - A frustrating one, car was constantly changing with the wet/dry track and at the beginning of the session was located around P5. Then the track improved and during my final lap in the dry and was up 1 second on my sectors but suffered understeer at Ascari and that was all (idiot me accelerated too early on pits so I got a 1pos penalty (P6+1=P7)). Was worried about being located in the mid-pack for the race start.

S - Got a good launch and was about to move to the middle but got scared by Dan and Dave that got off like rockets so I backed out a lot before the first chicane (turned out to be a smart decision at the end). Then, Carmello touched me not once but twice before lesmos so I had 7 dagame in my rear wing not even at the end of the first lap. Was located still in 8th and was focusing on having a race from there on free of trouble.

What happened in the next 20 minutes was really unbeleivable, conditions were very difficult at the beginning as rain was falling hard and some guys were victims of outbraking themselves and stepping on puddles so overtook a couple of cars and started to find my feet with the ailing car in P6. Pace was not bad at all but the car suffered a lot of OVS on fast speed corners. Was closing with the Rexergie boys to have a fight for P4 when one of then spun and then realized that Karl had the same damage issues as me so I was up in P4 with him behind. Gap was massive (30s) with top 3 boys so I settled for P4 managing my gap with Karl as we was starting to chase me. Track dried up when Dave had a crash at the middle of the race so I found myself on an unlikely podium.

Then Will and Adam had a touch fighting from the lead, apparently it was a big one as the gap closed a lot and both went into the pits so took the lead with more or less 5 laps to go. Was very nervious and felt that I was going to bottle it as the track got tricky at the end, tyres were dead and Karl was pusing reducing the gap to 4 seconds. Fortunately him and I had the same struggles as the car was all over the place. (thanks to our rear wing damage) Karl was closing on me but he made a little mistake and all I had to do was to drive carefully until the finish. Didn't even bother to open DRS from there on or to look at gaps as the rain hit hard on the last 2 laps. Crossed the line and I was buzzing with the result P1 combined with a P2 last time around in la Sarthe is great start to my championship.



F - Lined up last in the reverse grid and was ok with that. Took the first chinane slowly to read and understand all the moves in front to avoid to be involved. This time in the second chinane I braked very early and cautious because Peppe was side by side with me so he could go round the outside (normal racing line) cleanly without issues. Well turned out that we passed the braking point and turned in to me giving me 5 damage now in my front wing. This would be costly.

Overtook Will and Dan´s damaged cars and settled in P6 but the car with the damage was understeering a lot and personally have troubles when the car handles like that. Was running consistant but very slow so let Karl pass by and settled in P7. Tyres were ok in the 30 minute mark and saw that Karl and Pete had issues with their pitstops so I was up in p4 going in a long stint and was looking good as was cathing Dave who was in the same strat (behind 5 seconds).

Decided to stop with 25 minutes to go so I could go flat out to the end with new tyres but then disaster strucked me. At the pitstop the crew found a 'mechanical issue' (so they start repairing the car) that cost me 20+ seconds. Went out in P5 but with Karl behind me that was quicker than me so he closed the gap and it was almost a matter of time before he got passed me. Was just thinking of letting him by (as I still had the damaged FW) when I understeed heavily in Ascari and touched the barrier that made me pit again. With minutes to go it was a shame as P7 was the maximum I could recover.


Congrats to everyone who took part yesterday, excluding some unfortunate encounters on the first lap we all did our best giving the conditions. Very fine job to all the podium finishers in the feature race and to Karl that dragged an impossible car to P2 in the sprint race (I know how the car was behaving ). Having tons of fun racing with you all and the start of the season has been fantastic, way better than my initial expectations. Feeling very confident for the next race in Silverstione to have another stong result mixing with the top guys again. Let´s hope for another race full of action and fair racing.

- Bryan -