David O'Reilly
A bad quali means I can go forwards in the race.
Headlines.
- Clean sector one but carnage at exit of Turn 12 on lap one.
- Twister show ominous form.
- Two and three stop strategies used by podium-getters.
- Battles in final laps.
- Pre qualification and qualifying 1 sees 18 drivers separated by .5 second.
Race Result.
Podium
First Daniel Kiss
Second Rens Klop
Third Michi Hoyer
Hungarian Twister driver Daniel Kiss showed blistering pace as he led for 41 of 47 laps.
He handed the lead to 2 stopping German Avid Chronic driver Michi Hoyer breifly during his first stop. He shared the podium with another Twister driver in Rens Klop.
The start initially looked very clean as the whole grid passed by turn one (often the scene of tears and carbon pieces) and in fact sectors 1 and 2 intact. However a bit of tense action that began at the exit of the high speed chicane of Turns 10-11 and continued with possibly a desperate move into Turn 12 became a road block of a wreck. Drivers with wingless cars tried to carry on and amplified the size of the crash.
Up the front however we had 18 runners still racing and to be objective this was where the winners would come from.
The longer race format brought strategy into play as the top 4 drivers had a mix of 2 stop and 3 stop strategies with winner Kiss and second placed Dutchman Rens Klop P2 choosing to 3 stop whereas Michi Hoyer and Pershalis Gergis went for a 2 stop.
In his final stint, three stopper Klop had to chase down two stopping Hoyer who assumed second place after Klop pitted. He did a pretty good job of it and he pounced and created a Medium to Medium tyre fight but with his tyres quite a lot fresher and his aero a little lower..
In a thrilling finish, to retain fourth place and somewhat in a repeat of the Klop– Hoyer fight, Two stopping Gergis had to hold off a hard charging Finnish driver in Mikko Soukas on a 3 stop in the final laps. Faster than Speed driver- Soukas had pitted from about 8 seconds in front of the Greek driver Gergis. Soukkas rejoined around 8 seconds behind and closed him down. The difference was perhaps that Soukas caught him a little later in his final stint and the fresh tyre advantage was somewhat negated by how hard Gergis made him push to close the gap. Gerghis put up a strong defence on tired rubber and on the finish line the Finnish driver was 5 hundredths behind.
We asked Martin O'Brundle for his thoughts on 2 stop versus 3 stop.
O'Brundle: Well from where I sat Kiss would have won with either. His pace was so dominant today. However, I noticed that both Twister cars had impressive top speed which made their passing efforts easier but it (low wing) usually comes with a tyre strategy ultimatum. You can't make tyres last long enough for a 2 stop. So the low wing means its a sprint and a 3 stop. Hoyer and Gerghis had they chosen a 3 stop would probably not fared any better than they did simply due to the pace of the Twister pair, so they played their cards wisely and went for a strategy call.
There was a lot going on in the final stint even if some observers hadn't quite caught on to it!
See you later today for Pro and World Championship.
Full results and Standings available here
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