FSR World Championships Germany Race Review

[David O'Reilly]

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Hockenheim Germany Round 7 World Championship Review.​

Circuit 4.574km. 67 laps

Tyres Primes-Medium, Options- Supersoft

The Historic circuit of Hockenheim nestled in Rhine Valley in the Baden-Württemberg region of Germany, updated and shortened from 6.823 km to 4.574km in 2001 to remove the forest section played host to round seven of the Formula Sim Racing World Championships.

While some drivers and observers bemoan the changes and shortening of the track others agreed that the forest section section largely consisted of dealing with turn one then running flat out through the forest save for three chicanes and far away from the paying public. So remote was the forest section that drivers would frequently get lost in the forest if forced to walk back to the pits from a break down.
It was the scene of the great Jim Clark’s death in 1968 and only after that was Armco installed to separate the track from the trees. Two chicanes were also added, the first one was named in his honour. After running flat for 2.3 km the track would enter the stadium section at what is now turn nine.
It was the emotional scene of Rubens Barrichello’s first win in 2000. In that year all the overtakes took place in the forest unseen by the track side audience and Alesi had a big shunt at the 3rd chicane. This combined with the tracks length meaning only 44 passes of the grandstands and the decision was made to update the track.
Juan Pablo Montoya will forever hold the lap record for the old Hockenheim.

The track re-design got the "Tilke treatment" and with the removal of the long high speed section and the addition of a hairpin and another couple of corners the track became more technical and more aero dependent. It's also punishing on the front left tyre.

Standings​

We arrive with the drivers championships table looking like this...
1. Petar Brljak Croatia CRO 126
2. Jim Parisis Greece 90
3. Kuba Brzezinski Poland 67
4. Muhammed Patel United Kingdom 66
5. Daniel Kiss Hungary 37
6. Francesco Bigazzi Italy 35
7. Jernej Simoncic Slovenia 28
8. John-Eric Saxén Finland 27
9. Blair Disley Australia 23
10. David Greco Italy 18 = . Marco Conti Italy 18
12. Dian Kostadinov Bulgaria 12 = . Daniel Brewer United Kingdom 12
14. Morgan Morand France 10 = Carlos Martín Spain 10
16. Enrico Di Loreto Italy 8 = . Patrick De Wit Netherlands 8
18. Eros Masciulli Italy 4 = . Marek Godek Slovakia 4
20. Pashalis Gergis Greece 1= Danny van der Niet Netherlands 1 = Jonny Simon Australia 1

Expectations
Jonny Simon took his maiden pole in Austria but denied himself the win with an error lapping the first back marker. Would this be the race where he would put it all together?

Muhammed Patel arrived with two third paced finishes to his credit along with three fourth places. Remembering his near miss in China and his fast finish at Austria (+.990 sec) for third place, is that win coming? What will he have to do to beat Brljak and Parisis?

Petar Brljak after a massive battle at Austria secured the win from Parisis arrives with the title lead based on three wins, two second places and one third place. He is still yet to finish off the podium.

Parisis with two wins and two second place finishes has the pace to challenge Brljak but it all needs to go well for him.

Brzezinski is only one point clear of Patel in the title chase and never far from the podium. If he wants to maintain third he needs to deliver.

Qualifying​

The pace is hot and the field tight. To get the result drivers have to be on the limit and the Q2 laps of Greco and Brzezinski have to be abandoned due to cuts or extending. They will be at the rear of the first 5 rows.The top six are separated by .15 sec. Top eight by .317 Parisis is eleventh.

Jonny Simon steals pole for the second race in a row. He is joined on the front row by Muhammed Patel.

The Race​

Its a clean start and Simon converts pole to the lead on lap one but fails to break the one second DRS gap. His car is looking a handful in race trim with the rear end looking a little unstable. With “parc ferme” in place it appears that his set up might have been optimised for qualifying.
Lap 5 and a moment in turn 8 where his car under-steers , Simon is passed and recovers into third place, also an unexpected stop by Brzezinski to shed the primes and take options. He rejoins in second last place but a train of cars not far ahead.

Lap 9 Conti has a big power over-steer situation at the South Curve (final corner) exit, tries to counter steer but its all over too fast and he's into the pit wall. It's a DNF. At least he had a very short walk back to the pits.

Lap 10-11 most drivers pit and Satherly on a 3 stop inherits the lead. He manages 14 laps on the options. The last couple defending against Patel.
Prieto runs wide at the North Curve (T1), loses the car but saves it again without damage.

Lap 13 Jonny Simon and the rear end of his car are not getting on at all and it is looking quite unstable in Turn 1.

Lap 14 Satherly pits from lead for primes -rejoins P11.

Lap 27 Parisis on a charge he fights Kuba in a display from both of top flight wheel to wheel racing. Kuba is not easy to pass but Parisis is able to work from the hairpin (T7), past the Mercedes Benz stand to turn nine to close the deal for seventh place.
Lap 28 Parisis now attacks Satherly and passes for sixth.
Lap 30 Parisis charge continues and he now lines up Simoncic with a DRS pass for P5.

Lap 31 Johnny Simon is still fighting the rear end of his car and they agree to meet at the start of the pit wall for mediation. A trial separation is agreed and the rear wing and Simon go their separate ways. It's over for the pole sitter.

Lap 34 Brljak attacks Parisis. Parisis defends well and and attempts an over and under move. The fight continues to Turn 9 and Brljak is through.

Lap 40 Brewer claimed by the grass outside the North Curve. He initially gathers it up but puts power down when the left hand rear wheel still on grass and the right hand on the tarmac sends him into the wall and it's over.

Lap 41 Patel on options attacks Brljak on primes. He can't get a pass and at the end of lap 42 Patel makes the decision to go for an undercut and so pits. Brljak responds.

Lap 44 Patel's side of the garage are peering over the pit wall as Brljak exits-Patel is not only through but is about to put Bigazzi between them. It's lap 46 when Brljak clears Bigazzi and gives chase.

Lap 57 Three drivers fight for fourth -Simoncic, Brzezinski, D Alessandro. Brzezinski is putting a lot of pressure on Simoncic. Lap 59 Kuba attacks with DRS into the hairpin without success.

Patel is having to defend hard from Brljak who is now on him. Brljak limited slightly by top speed. He is buzzing into the limiter at the end of the DRS straight.

Lap 62 Brzezinski with stunning move under brakes into the hairpin catches both Simoncic and the commentary team by surprise.

Lap 66 Brljak pushes braking for turn 2 to the limit, spins it up on exit and gets his best shot yet, but is bouncing off the limiter at 300m mark and the attack stalls.

Patel wins and the 2014 Ace runner -up claims his first ever FSR World Championship victory!!!!

Final Results​

1) Muhammed Patel Twister 2Fast4You 1h27m33.324
2) Petar Brljak Twister 2Fast4You. +0.461. Made Patel work for it and also set the fastest race lap of 1m14.828.
3) Kuba Brzezinski Origin Front Row Racing +32.171. From 10th on the grid.
4) Jernej Simoncic Ghost Speed Racing Team +35.592
5) Dian Kostadinov Eventa Simracing +49.305
6) Jim Parisis Twister Racing Team +51.374 From 11th on the grid Jim finished third on the road but a 30-second time penalty was imposed for exceeding track limits.
7) John-Eric Saxén Avid Chronic Racing Team +53.781
8) Blair Disley GS Engineering +59.839
9) Michele D Alessandro BBR Life4Racing +1m03.648 Stepping up from Pro and impressive seventh on the road but a 30-second time penalty was imposed for exceeding track limits.
10) Daniel Kiss Twister Racing Team +1m04.008 after a 30-second time penalty for track limits was imposed.
11) David Greco Avid Chronic Racing Team +1m04.927
12) Giordano Valeriano MadCape Racing Team 1 lap down
13) Aleksi Kivelä MadCape Racing Team 1 lap down

Standings​

Patel's win not only moves him into third ahead of Brzezinski but also puts him only 7 points behind Parisis.

Full standings HERE


The next race will be a thriller at Silverstone. Stay tuned!
Photos by @Pashalis Gergis



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