Joseph Wright
Premium
The RaceDepartment Grand Prix Championship (RDGPC) hit the Christmas break with Ferdinand Lechner out on top, the rest of the field trailing behind.
Three of Five point scoring races of the Sixth running of RaceDepartment's premier open wheeler championship have been run, and only two remain. Ferdinand Lechner has been dominating the series, qualifying pole, winning and getting the fastest lap of each race so far.
At Hockenheim for the opening round of the series, Lechner qualified over one second ahead of the rest of the field, and by the end of the race he finished over one minute ahead of second and third (Matt Le Gallez and David Jundt) who were the only other two drivers to finish on the lead lap. The Virtual Safety Car which was called out in the early stages of the race benefited Lechner as he dived down the pit lane and got back out in the lead of the race, with none of the other front runners making the same strategy call, almost giving Lechner a free pass at a pit stop.
By the end of the race 12 retirements rounded out the race of endurance, with Johnny Stathoros and Craig Patteson unfortunately having to pull their cars to the side following unexpected engine failures which proved to be a big talking point after round one.
To Re-Live Round 1 click here
Round two took place at the Goiania circuit, which saw lots of action in the first few minutes of the race, with the Virtual Safety Car being called within the first lap following a huge accident which collected most of the field, and saw one driver fly ten meters into the air. Race Control ultimately made the decision to abandon the race and they pulled out the red flag, after an unexpected in-game Safety Car confused the entire field and baffled race control, leading to many more incidents.
After around twenty minutes of down-time, the race was restarted once more with ten less laps in the race, so that it would finish at around the same time as originally planned. Lechner saw himself start from the front of the grid, with six drivers able to find similar pace and qualify within a second. The rest of the field was only separated by 1.3 seconds, meaning 2.3 seconds from first to last - the closest qualifying session of the season.
Lechner was still able to pull out a lead and finished 48 seconds ahead of Matt Le Gallez. Le Gallez did not have an easy job holding onto second in the race, however, as Ryan Seltzer, the defending RDGPC champion, was running his first race of the season and finished only two seconds behind Le Gallez. Once again, engine failures came into part at Round 2, however, only Rodrigo Cascaes was affected by the temperamental engine component.
In a race dedicated to his late nan, Joseph Wright's team was able to finish with their first top ten of the season, scored by Jeremy Mook, making it an emotional race for Joseph who's grandad was also very supported throughout the event.
To Re-Live Round 2 click here
The third and final race of 2017 within the RaceDepartment Grand Prix Championship took place at the historic Adelaide circuit in Australia. Surprisingly, no Virtual Safety Car's or Race Control warranted penalties saw daylight at Adelaide. Lechner once again saw pole position by more than a second over closest rival Matt Le Gallez. Steve Le Gallez and Tero Dahlberg both failed to make qualifying, however both were present in the race.
Amazingly during 68 laps of racing around the street circuit, only seven cars failed to reach the checkered flag, and once again an engine failure met with Carlos Alba to make the persistent issue continue towards 2018. Tero Dahlberg also failed to make it to the end, however, he was still classified in the final results as he had completed 75% of the race distance. Unfortunately Mark Breslin met his end rather early on in the race, after spinning onto the inside curb at the hairpin and ultimately becoming wedged on the tall curbing, leading to a retirement from The Mighty Forth machine.
By the end of the day, Lechner finished over a minute ahead of Matt Le Gallez, who once again finished 1st and 2nd in that order. Tom Watts and David Jundt were battling during the closing stages in the race, but after an unfortunate mistake by Jundt, Watts was able to grab the final podium position leaving Jundt in 4th. Racers in Pyjamas saw all three of their machines that were racing at Adelaide finish in the top 6. A strong recovery for Craig Patteson, however not what he or any one else was expecting from the man who shines in the Formula 3 club events. CMGARAGE and Matt Cook also saw his best result of the season sitting in P13.
To Re-Live Round 3 click here
With just 2 more rounds left in this running of the RaceDepartment Grand Prix Championship, we are yet to see who will win the Drivers' and Teams' championship. Even though Lechner holds a 33 point lead over Le Gallez, you only need to finish in 13th position to gain enough points to close that gap. One wrong move for Lechner could end his championship hopes. Jundt also remains just 25 points behind Le Gallez and 58 points behind Lechner. In the Team's championship, The Mighty Forth currently hold a 94 point lead, however, with 201 points available each weekend, that could also change with one small mistake.
Round 4 at Brasilia will be available to watch live on Saturday 13th January 2018 from 20:00GMT on Twitch.
The Final at Oulton Park will be available to watch live on Saturday 27th January 2018 from 20:00GMT on Twitch.
Drivers Standings (Top 5 of 34)
- Ferdinand Lechner // The Mighty Forth // 318 Points
- Matt Le Gallez // LG Racing // 285 Points
- David Jundt // The Mighty Forth // 260 Points
- Dan Long // Racers in Pyjamas // 225 Points
- Tobias Marquardt // Banzaaaiii TCC // 175 Points
- The Mighty Forth // 584 Points
- Racers in Pyjamas // 490 Points
- LG Racing // 363 Points
- Banzaaaiii TCC // 240 Points
- Turn 3 Motorsport // 204 Points
Hellenic Racing Association // 204 Points
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