Race REPORT & PICTURES - 11 - Belgium GP (Spa-Francorchamps)

Sadly I have to announce there won't be pictures or slide show this time (and god only knows when we'll have them again)... As most of you know, Arek's laptop is as juvenil as him and it shuts down by itsef after a few mins, so he can’t take the pictures. And yes, I won’t take them myself, because it’s too much work and I have a life, so… let me just try to ‘register’ some of the most important events about the Belgium GP.

The ‘weekend’ actually started a week before (lol), on march 10th, when we had our Q1 and Q2 and even the race, but… at the end of the race we found out it had the wrong number of laps and after some debate on the admin area, we agreed that since some/most of the drivers were prejudiced, that race shouldn’t count. So we had 2 options: just ignore/skip the race, or… race it again. We picked this 2nd option and then the race was rescheduled for the following Sunday, on march 17th.

So, on march 10th, we had 21 guys on the server and we had Q1 and Q2, with soutie getting the pole, followed by Denis and ADI. I started in 4th, which was again my best staring position evah in the League – just like I did a few races ago, in Silverstone.
Also on march 10th’s race, I was able to finish with a podium (in 3rd place) and soutie won, but… none of us could celebrate that for too long, since that race result was canceled and we would have to race again one week later…
For march 17th’s race, we only had 15 guys… 6 of those 21 guys had other ‘more important’ things to do – something they call ‘life’ – and I mean… pff!... NONE of us has a life, let’s be honest… Anywhore… one of those 6 guys who couldn’t ‘re-race’ was exactly the pole position and championship leader, soutie… So, his absence opened the way for Joe McLaggen to try and recover the Championship lead, which he did, but… didn’t do it exactly… - don’t worry, I’ll explain everything on the next paragraphs…

Without soutie, Denis ‘earned’ the ‘pole’ (at least on track, although on the stats, the pole still counts to soutie, obviously – it was the same as if those 6 guys had lost connection between Q2 and the race… so, their quali results counted normally, but unfortunately, they couldn’t actually race)… And then I started in ‘3rd’ which was my best starting position evah in the league – but yes, it still counted as a 4th place anyway.
At the start I tried my best to stay close to Denis and ADI, leading the pack, because I wanted to try to get that 3rd place I got on march 10th’s race again, but… someone released the Kraken (AKA Svenoob) and that was when my whole race got fucked up…
I got hit by Sven after the long straight on lap 1 and sent to the grass. I tried my best to rejoin SAFELY (which I did, leaving more than enough room to the cars behind me and not hitting or even touching anyone), but still I was accused of making an unsafe rejoin – which actually gave me a warning by the Stewards (and Sven, who hit me and sent me off of the track didn’t get anything) – go figure… - the fact is that I lost time and contact with Denis and ADI and I had a good top speed car, so I believe if I was able to stay close to them, I could try and overtake (or at least just fight) with them on the straights and with some luck, I could even fight for the win as well… Anyway…
On lap 2 I missed my braking point after the long straight again and went to the grass (this time by my own mistake) and then tried to rejoin EXACTLY as I did in lap 1, but unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried to turn my wheel to the left (so I wouldn’t jump back into the track), my car hit the kerb on my right side and jumped back to the track anyway. Sven was too close behind and our cars touched each other and his car hit the wall. In one of those contacts he got some damage on his suspension (or so he says…) and although he was able to stay on track and keep driving and fighting, later on the race he made some mistakes himself, including getting a penalty for speeding on the pit lane and then he got mad and left the server – but not before calling a vote to ban me and trying to blame ME for his bad race and own mistakes – good job, Boss!
Anyway… The fact is that I also got a penalty for that contact with Sven and although I finished the race in 4th place, I lost 15 secs with a DT penalty and fell to 6th and instead of 12 points, I got only 8 – not the end of the world, obviously, but it’s heartbreaking when I think I got a 3rd place on the week before and that result wasn’t valid and now that we had to race again all I got was a 6th place… Well, that’s still better than not scoring points at all, so… let’s move on.

Denis and ADI had a very nice fight for the lead for most of the 1st stint, but in the end Belarus Boy #1 was able to keep a slightly better pace than Romanian Sensation ADI… and it ended this way. Denis won and ADI finished in 2nd. Closing the podium we had raikkO with another good race (something rare for him, since he is a master when it comes to fucking up his own races – sad, but true)… BTW, raikkO finished the race with no front wing for the last 3 or 4 laps and I almost got him! I tried the overtake him on the last chicane on the very last lap, but my tyres were already completely fucked up, so the car didn’t brake well and I passed over the kerb – I could’ve ‘cut’ through the inside and finished on the podium, but that would be obviously wrong, so I tried to bring my car back on the track as fairly as I could and I almost got overtaken by Joe, but I finished in front of him by a few centimeters… BTW, I think Joe let me ‘win’, because he was faster than me and could’ve overtaken me if he wanted. But he didn’t do it because he was feeling bad for accidentally hitting me on lap 7 – and I say: it’s ok, Joe! You’re such a good and fair driver (and not only a teammate, but also a friend) that I’m SURE it was all just an accident and even the most experienced drivers can get involved in them from time to time. At least the both of us were able to keep going and still we finished (on track) in 4th and 5th, which was pretty nice to the McLaren team again!

BUT… Joe’s incident with me also gave him a DT penalty and he also fell from 5th to 7th, so… the McLarens got 6th and 7th instead of 4th and 5th… 14 points, instead of 22… but we’re still leading on the Constructors’ Championship with a good gap, so… it’s all ok (for now)!
And with our penalties, both Arnoldinhu and lau earned 2 positions and 4 points each! Lau went from 6th to 4th and Arnie went from 7th to 5th. BlackFox scored points again – and again 4 points, as he did before in Monaco – with another 8th place and also scored points: Tom and Luft, in 9th and 10th places respectively. Cueball, Otti, Sven, Bober and Arek didn’t finish the race… - jah, what else could I say anyway?!...
For more specific info about each driver's race, click HERE

And those penalties also messed up with the whole championship!
Remember I said with soutie’s absence it was a great chance for Joe to regain the Championship lead and that he actually did, but at the same time didn’t?!...
Well… Joe had originally finished in 5th place, before the penalties, getting 10 points and going for 129 on the Championship, leading it, followed by Denis with 125 and soutie with 122, but… after the penalties, Joe fell to 7th place, scoring only 6 points, which means… having ‘only’ 125 on the Championship, TIED WITH DENIS!!!
BUT… on the tie breaker, Denis actually has the lead, because he has 2 victories (France and Belgium) against only 1 victory by Joe (Portugal).
And as I’ve just said, soutie still has 122 points, so they are all pretty close to each other!
And with McLaren’s penalties, lau got 2 more places (as I mentioned above) and also 4 more points on the Championship, which gives him a total of 110, so he is also not so far from the first 3 guys (just like Tom, with 100 points) and we still have 6 more races to go, so… the Title is still ‘far’ from being defined!

Anyway… I guess this is it for now.
We’re going to the classic Monza – where I’ll be starting in last, since that was my 3rd penalty on the season – and I’m not so fast there, so… I’ll be REALLY lucky if I ‘survive’ the start (yes, the T1 ghost is haunting the rFR League again) and if I score any points there, but… we’ll see…
Stay tuned, kids!!!

'Checkered flag is out and so am I!'

BELGIUM FULL RESULTS
For ALL the pointers and Championship standings, just take a look below!!!