GPC FR2000 International Championship - Event 2 - Zandvoort

[Jaap Wagenvoort]

Last week, the exciting first event at Aviano Short was held. 57 drivers competed in Pre-Qualifying (PQ). The top 15 of PQ battled it out on Saturday evening for the points. A 10-lap sprint race and a 20-lap feature race saw the best of the best from PQ fighting wheel-to-wheel for the points.

After the first two races in the first event, the paddock now already moved to Zandvoort for the 2nd event of the GPC FR2000 International Championship season 2006.1.

Wagenvoort leads Almeida in the Drivers Championship. Almeida will definately be looking for revenche. The same will apply to the Russian eXpansion team who, after dominating PQ, got into big trouble in the races and left Aviano without points.

All the drivers who just missed cut the cut in Aviano are back on track in The Netherlands and will challenge hard to make through this time. First times are already posted. Follow the progress of PQ live on GPC which has an advanced Live Timing system in place. It is equipped with a comment feature which allows you to discuss the session with other viewers and to cheer your favorite drivers

See it all on GPChampionship.com

Good luck to all participants in this 2nd event!

[Jaap Wagenvoort]

August 12th, 2006. After its first event at Aviano Short, the FR2000 International Championship moved to Zandvoort (NED) for rounds 3 and 4 of the 2006.1 season. Would Jaap Wagenvoort continue his winning streak or would RSC Motorsports take revenche and win at FWN's home event?

Again, over 50 drivers participated in Pre-Qualifying where one of the spots in the top 15 was at stake. After 3 long and intensive days of PQ, the 15 names were known.

Qualifying

At 22:30CEST, 13 drivers appeared to attend the Driver Briefing for the 2nd event of the season. The two Russian eXpansion drivers were missing. After the Briefing, all drivers got into their cars and the heartbeats raised as Qualifying was about to start. 15 thrilling minutes in which you have to get it together in order to secure a good starting position for the event.

It almost was Aviano Short revisited. Jaap Wagenvoort, championship leader and winner of both Aviano Short rounds, took provisional pole-position with a time of 1m41s59. A few seconds later, Phil Woodward improved this time and brought the provisional pole to 1m41s3.

Then, Wagenvoort went for his 2nd run. He drove a PB of 1m41s100 to claim pole-position at his home event. Woodward's 1m41s3 was still good for 2nd and Daniel Almeida's 3rd place caused a complete repeat of the top 3 grid structure of the Aviano Short event one week earlier.

Race 3

Just after 23:00CEST, all drivers put their cars into the correct grid position to prepare for the start of Race 3 of the FR2000IC 2006.1 season. Wagenvoort and Woodward on the front row, with the two RSC Motorsports cars on row 2.

The lights went red - and green! A few drivers didn't have a good visual contact with the starting lights and were passed by drivers who did catch the green lights correctly. Wagenvoort managed to keep the lead as Almeida had a great start and took 2nd from Woodward as the two dove into the Tarzanbocht.

However, Woodward wasn't planning to leave it with that. He immediately put pressure on the Swiss driver in front and passed him again on lap 2. The sprint is important in two ways, both for the points and the fact that the result is the grid for the feature race.

Behind them, Tero Dahlberg maintained his 4th place and finally looked set for a points finish to collect his first season points. Richard Hooper moved up to 5th, but lost his position after a spin that sent him down to 8th on lap 3. This moved Juha Pyy up to 5th and rookie Jeroen Goedhart up to 6th. Morgan Purcell, a last-minute lucky loser from PQ, had to retire, together with Bram Schoonderbeek, on lap 4.

In the final 4 laps, drivers settled for their positions. Pyy closed the gap to Dalhberg in front of him in 4th place, but could not place an attack on his compatriot. After 8 laps, Wagenvoort won his 3rd consecutive race from start to finish to further improve his championship lead. Woodward finished second and Almeida took his 3rd season podium drive as he took 3rd place.

Dahlberg took 4th, Pyy 5th and Goedhart 6th to immediately claim first season points for the new Goodlake squad. Whitehead and Manton scored 7th and 9th respectively to collect double point finish for the Skunk Racing Team as Richard Hooper ended an eventful Race 3 with points on P8.

Race 4

An unchanged top 3 on the grid for Race 4 - the 16-lap feature race at Zandvoort. Wagenvoort, after a unthreatened Race 3 win, looked confident for a 4th win of the season in the feature race, but Woodward and Almeida showed great pace as well.

Wagenvoort took the lead as the lights went out. Again, Almeida took 2nd place in front of Woodward. Behind the two Dalhberg missed his start and lost several positions, but further behind there was more trouble as Hooper, Goodlake car of Bram Schoonderbeek, Morgan Purcell and Sam Skipper all got into trouble in a incident exiting turn 1. All drivers eventually retired from the race in this race incident.

This time around, Almeida held on to the 2nd place as he could keep Woodward behind him on a safe distance. Wagenvoort immediately developed a lead upfront as had a 4,5 second lead after 4 laps on Almeida. Almeida spun on lap 5, dropping him down to 6th place. Woodward and Pyy moved up to 2nd and 3rd, but Wagenvoort was out of reach in the meanwhile.

After 10 laps, the situation was unchanged. Wagenvoort now had a 10-second lead over Woodward, who came under more and more pressure from Pyy. Behind them, Stuart Whitehead was running in 4th, but saw Tero Dahlberg coming closer and closer each lap. Then, drama on lap 12. Wagenvoort, dominating the race and looking set for a certain win, suddenly retired from the race with technical problems. The point for driving the fastest lap of the race was only a very bitter and in fact no consolation for the Dutchman. Woodward kindly took advantage to lead his first laps of the season. The tough battle between Woodward and Pyy, now suddenly for the lead of the race, continued. With one lap to go, Pyy was still only 0,6 between Woodward. On the last lap, Pyy put his car on the outside of the track as the two cars approached the Audi chicane. Woodward had the inside line, but spun his last-place.com car around. Pyy managed to keep his car in the right direction and with only 2 corners to go, took the lead of the race. A few hundred meters further, Pyy was the surprise winner of Race 4. Woodward managed to finish the race in 2nd place, thus scoring important points with Wagenvoort retiring from the race.

Dahlberg had overtaken Whitehead on lap 13 and scored his maiden podium finish of the 2006.1 season. Daniel Almeida did not had a clean race, but still took some points for the championship to at least gain some points on the unlucky Wagenvoort as he finished the race in 5th, with Whitehead again scoring for Team skunk Racing.

A very interesting and dramatic 2nd event of the FR2000iC 2006.1 season. Competitive racing, incidents, wheel-to-wheel racing and a climax on the last lap of Race 4. Even with the incident, a great understanding and spirit between the races shows the fantastic atmosphere in the FR2000IC paddock. That's how simracing should be!

Wagenvoort still leads the Drivers Championship and extended his lead over Almeida with two points to 11 points. Woodward and Pyy, in 3rd and 4th, both closed the gap to Almeida with a few points. In the Constructors Championship things are heating up as RSC Motorsports closed the gap to FWN to only one point.

Links

Pre-Qualifying Result

Race 1 Result

Race 1 Lapchart

Race 1 Driver Comments

Race 2 Result

Race 2 Lapchart

Race 2 Driver Comments

Driver Championship Standings

Team Championship Standings

4 rounds done, 6 to go in 2006.1 An exciting 3-day Pre-Qualifying session resulted in the 15 quickest drivers battling it out in Zandvoort. Wagenvoort and Pyy win the races in Zandvoort. The FR2000IC paddock already prepares for the 3rd event of the official season, next week at the home of motorsports: Silverstone! Again a whole new type of track. Silverstone, with its high-speed corners and long and wide straights should offer plenty of overtaking possibilities. Pre-Qualifying for this event already starts on Wednesday. Join and fight for a place in the top 15 and the official event on Saturday August 19th, 22:30CEST.