ACE 2015 - Round 11: Singapore race review

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Joined
Jul 21, 2015
Messages
55
Likes
20
Points
11
Age
35
Location
Osilo, SS, Italy
Team
NetRex GP
#1


Singapore city track was the unique night race of this FSR season, being the longest grand prix in calendar as well. Masciulli was the fastest in Q1, but he missed a great opportunity crashing in Q2; Bolubkasi conquered pole position followed by Hoyer, Antochowsky, Gergis and Prieto, with Riera, Godek and Gobbi having penalties. Great battle between top three at race start, with OFR taking first and second place despite a good start by ACR. This was top ten at the end of first lap: Bolubkasi, Antochowsky, Hoyer, Gergis, Klop, Prieto and Francesconi, with Masciulli, Gobbi and van der Niet using harder compound. No major incidents, but Ivanov dropped last and far from the pack. On lap seven Valkeejarvi attacked van der Niet for tenth place, but he made contact opening DRS and retired; Trines NetRex driver had problems too becouse a suspension damage, but managed to continue.

First racer to stop becouse of undercut was Klop, who choosed supersoft tires again; that allowed him to gain time and pass Gergis with a good overtake for virtual forth position. Masciulli was the last to pit after fought with OFR; on lap eighteen Bolukbasi led with three seconds on Antochowsky and six on Hoyer, with Klop and Gergis concluding top five. Prieto, Francesconi, Godek, Gobbi and Masciulli were in top ten, while Hodas, van der Niet, Ivanov, Heesterbeek, Ragusa, Riera and Campus hoped in a better place.

On lap twentyseven strategies changed positions again, with Francesconi heading events and having a nice fight with Bolubkasi, Antochowsky, Masciulli and Hoyer; that was probably the most exciting grand prix moment. All these drivers overtook the determined Italian, with Antochowsky dropping to virtual Fourth after a mistake on braking zone; later Hoyer passed even Masciulli for Second, with an outside move at turn fourtheen. Francesconi kept his tires as much as he could untill he slammed, causing a close call to Gergis who lost positions.

Ten laps to go and Bolukbasi led Hoyer, Masciulli, Antochowsky and Prieto, with Klop, Gergis, Godek, Hodas and Gobbi integrating top ten; Ivanov, van der Niet, Ragusa, Heesterbeek and a very far Campus with connection issues completed the pack. Soon Gergis retired becouse of a screen freeze, involuntarily involving Godek in a crash; the Ghostspeed driver pitted for a new front wing and returned on track thirtheen. Last farewells were van der Niet and Gobbi, but race pacesetter risked to reach them; he started to short shifting and lost all his gap to Hoyer in last three laps! He won his first FSR race becouse of an half second, finishing fuel just after finish line; what a race finale!

21 drivers started this race, 14 finished it
1)Cem Bolukbasi (TUR)
Origin Front Row Racing Green
1h25m32.244 (49 laps)

2)Michi Hoyer (GER)
Avid Chronic Racing Team
+0.532

3)Eros Masciulli (ITA)
Eventa by Pescara
+3.151

4)Michal Antochowski (POL)
Origin Front Row Racing Green
+8.891

5)Guillermo Prieto (SPA)
Faster Than Speed
+26.594

6)Rens Klop (NED)
Thrustmaster Twister Racing
+28.124

7)Martin Hodás (SVK)
Eventa-Pescara
+42.497

8)Victor Ivanov (BUL)
Eventa-Pescara
+52.607

9)Giuseppe Ragusa (ITA)
BBR Life4Racing
+56.535

10)Ruud Heesterbeek (NED)
GS Engineering
+1m00.460

11)Marek Godek (SVK)
GhostSpeed Racing Team
+1m03.798

12)Fabrizio Gobbi (ITA)
BBR Life4Racing
1 lap down

13)Alessio Campus (ITA)
TrinesNX Exclusive
2 laps down

14)Danny van der Niet (NED)
NetRex Grand Prix
5 laps down


Press conference
Cem Bolukbasi (Origin Front Row Racing)
-"Welcome Cem and congratulations for your first FSR win. Most of us know very little about you; can you tell something about your simracing background? What kind of state did you have in last three laps?"
-"Hello, I've been involved in motorsports since I was 5 years old. And next year, hopefully, I'll continue with Formula 4 series in Europe. I started serious sim racing at the beginning of 2014 with Iracing. At 2015 S1 on Iracing, I obtained my Pro license. But couple of months later, I got bored of iracing and joined FSR with Origin Front Row. Car suited me well and got faster every day even though I downloaded the mod 3 days before the Silverstone race. I really enjoy racing here and there is a 90% chance that I'll race in FSR in 2016 aswell. Thanks again."

Michi Hoyer (Avid Chronic Racing Team)
-"Welcome Michi and congratulations for another podium. Do you think first lap was decisive today? Can you describe us what did you think on lap twentyseven, when you had four close cars in front of you?"
-"Hey you guys. Thank you once again. It’s a great feeling to score 2nd place 3rd time in a row. On a street circuit the first lap is always one of the most important ones during a race. My start was quite perfect from my point of view and I had a comfortable grip off line in Turn 1 and 3, so I could do the move on Cem Bolukbasi. Unfortunately for Turn 7 I had no idea about the grip conditions on the off line side. So I broke a bit earlier enabling not just Cem Bolukbasi but also Michal Antochowski to pass me. Which then in fact wasn’t as planned. I remembered being in that group of 5 people with myself thinking how did they get there, will they pit? In fact it was absolutely magnificent to have the 5 leaders of a race after 60% of the distance within 1,8 seconds. That was a great advertising for our league and our sport. I had a bit of a headache and had to ask my engineers about the situation. Knowing I had to pass all those people ahead didn’t make things easier. Luckily I could gain advantage from mistakes and overtakes so I could find a way to pass them. While saying this I have to point out a massive thumbs up for Eros Masculli and Michael Francesconi for being wise and showing good race-craft. Overtaking has been even more than hard on that weekend and every pass required the “care” of the contender beside to not make contact or crash into the walls. They both has shown very good race-craft, good defending and a good decision-making on what to do when they knew they have almost lost the fight."


Race Broadcast
Pole Lap
Race Results
ACE Driver and Team Standings

Next ACE review will be Suzuka.
Alessio Campus, David O'Reilly and Pashalis Gergis (FSR Media Group)
 

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