P1LMS 8h of Silverstone - Race Recap

Discussion in 'P1LMS' started by Greg Hall, Apr 30, 2019.

  1. Greg Hall

    Greg Hall Member Editor SimHQM

    Round 3 of the P1LMS Championship crosses the globe, from Japan to the United Kingdom, to run around and across the old runways of Silverstone. Originating as a bomber station during World War II, Silverstone hosted its first official race in 1948. The track has evolved through the years, with the latest changes in 2011 locking down the current, highly technical layout. The track is so embedded in racing culture that everyone knows the corner names here. Copse, Maggotts, Becketts, Stowe, Luffield. It is this track that will punish the drivers for 8 hours.

    Through two rounds in LMP2, Black Hawk Racing leads the field with 45 points. Me Myself and I Alone carry on with 36, and Hansa Racing with 25 points. In GTE, YourNameHere Racing leads the field with 38 points, with TeamRGPL GTE following closely with 36 points, and Drace Motorsport holding 29 points.

    Qualifying

    In LMP2, it was Black Hawk Racing’s return to pole position here at Silverstone. Daniel Wizner blitzed around the track, setting a quality time of 1:42.62. #88 Me Myself and I alone was close behind, with Alex Salmon piloting the car into P2 with a 1:42.97. Rounding out the top three was Nic da Silva, the #63 SimHQ Motorsports car logging a time of 1:43.22.

    In GTE, the #74 MRS eRacing II claimed pole this time out, with Nick Westphal closing the session with a 1:55.29. #81 Black Hawk Racing with Kevin Jaeger logged P2 time with a 1:55.39, just missing out on a dual-pole for the BHR team. Qualifying third was Sebastian Pfeiffer in the YourNameHere Racing #911, with a 1:55.71.

    16 LMP2s and 25 GTEs qualified for the race in total, making for quite the packed grid!

    Race

    rFactor2 2019-04-22 18-45-20-33.bmp.jpg

    Once the green flag dropped, the LMP2 field held serve. The only early position change in the top 5 occurred when the #63 SimHQ Motorsports car hit technical issues and dropped from the race on lap 10. Barring misfortune, how long would the status quo last?

    Oh, that’s right, this is England. Wait a few minutes, and the weather will change. And on lap 23, the skies opened up and rain soaked the pavement. Within minutes, the pit lane was packed. Out of all the chaos, it was the #64 OOR SimHQ Motorsports team that vaulted up the running order, slotting into P1 momentarily. Lap 41 would see the #64 pit, returning the #106 BHR car into P1. By this time, the faucet turned off, and the track would start forming a dry line.

    rFactor2 2019-04-22 20-58-11-59.bmp.jpg

    Lap 55 would bring another cycle of pit stops, with the lead cycling from BHR to the #42 Hansa Racing car for a few laps, then back to the #64 OOR car. Lap 61 would see the #106 BHR car back in the lead, with the #88 Me Myself and I alone Oreca 07 and the #69 RevolutionSimRacing car following in chase mode.

    rFactor2 2019-04-22 19-06-09-54.bmp.jpg

    At lap 100, Jan Studenski replaced Alex Salmon in the #88 Me Myself and I alone car, only a few seconds behind the #106 BHR car. Studenski proceeded to crank the pressure up to max. On lap 132, Studenski made a wild move around the outside of Brooklands! A new leader has risen! Black Hawk Racing was now in the chase position.

    Of course, because this is England, the rain returned! Lap 174 flipped the race on its head once more. Both the #88 and #106 dove into the pits on lap 178 to put new shoes on the cars. Exiting the pits, Daniel Wizner was on the back bumper of Alex Salmon’s Me Myself and I alone Oreca, and the battle was on. It was short-lived, however. While negotiating traffic on lap 179, Salmon was hit by a lapped car, spinning Salmon and handing the race lead to Black Hawk Racing.

    From here on, the challengers were not able to take the fight to BHR. Black Hawk Racing took the car home in P1, after 252 laps, with Me Myself and I alone 50 seconds in arrears. The #69 RevolutionSimRacing V Oreca 07 rounded out the podium, three laps in arrears.

    1. #106 Black Hawk Racing
    2. #88 Me Myself and I alone
    3. #69 RevolutionSimRacing V
    4. #9 Schubert Motorsport
    5. #992 Vortex Motorsports LMP
    In GTE, the first lead change occurred in lap 14, when Nick Westphal in the #74 MRS eRacing II was pushed off track by an LMP2 in T1. The #81 Black Hawk Racing GTE assumed the lead at that point. Even though the rain hit on lap 21, the lead GTE cars continued on! Lap 25 saw the #911 YourNameHere Racing car of Sebastian Pfeiffer put a nice over/under move on Kevin Jaeger, taking the lead and pushing the #81 Black Hawk Racing car into P2.

    rFactor2 2019-04-22 20-54-35-70.bmp.jpg

    Pit stops on lap 32 brought the #74 MRS eRacing II car back to the point, having pitted earlier in the rainstorm for wet tires and faster lap times. Westphal pitted on lap 48, giving the lead back to the #81 BHR car. Being off-cycle, the #74 returned to the lead on lap 61.

    Another pit cycle, another lead change. BHR hopped to the lead on lap 77, MRS hopped back on lap 82. Tragedy struck the MRS eRacing II car, however, as Tim Ullrich had a mechanical issue on lap 86. Calling Black Hawk Racing back to the lead! At this point, the #77 TeamRGPL GTE sat in P2, #911 YourNameHere Racing in P3. For the next 30 laps, these cars were never separated by more than 20 seconds!

    Cue lap 111. Running through Copse, Shane Chancellor, behind the wheel of the #81 BHR GTE, had a sudden infection of oversteer, spinning the car to the inside. This was the opportunity Vojta Polesny in the #77 TeamRGPL GTE needed, slotting into the lead. BHR dropped to P3 in the aftermath of this incident.

    rFactor2 2019-04-22 19-08-38-11.bmp.jpg

    Lap 143 brings tragedy or victory, depending on your perspective. At this moment, the #81 BHR car suffered a mechanical failure, dropping the car from the server and overall contention. Meanwhile, the TeamRGPL car hit pit lane for an extensive pit stop, repairing damage from a prior collision caused by lapped traffic. With these actions, the battle pack at the front of the field dissipated, with the #911 YourNameHere Racing car taking the lead.

    On lap 185, the TeamRGPL car would see its misery extended. Leaving Becketts, contact with an LMP2 turned the car hard into the wall. There was no recovery. The car was dead. On the tail of the frontrunners’ misfortunes, the #73 MRS eRacing I and #30 Raceland DE cars were promoted into the podium spots.

    rFactor2 2019-04-22 18-51-44-86.bmp.jpg

    At the drop of the checkered flag, the #911 YourNameHere Racing car closed the race out as the winner, completing 232 laps. As noted above, the #73 MRS eRacing I closed the race out in P2, two laps down, and the #30 Raceland DE car rounded out the podium three laps in arrears. A special shout out goes to the #81 Black Hawk Racing GTE car, which managed to bring the car back to P4 after their disconnection.

    1. #911 YourNameHere Racing
    2. #73 MRS eRacing I
    3. #30 Raceland DE
    4. #81 Black Hawk Racing GTE
    5. #53 Rennsimulanten DE IV
    Standings

    With three rounds complete and five remaining, the #106 Black Hawk Racing team is starting to assert its will on the standings. However, the #88 Me Myself and I alone team isn’t letting BHR slip away that easily.
    1. #106 Black Hawk Racing - 70
    2. #88 Me Myself and I alone - 56
    3. #9 Schubert Motorsport - 35
    4. #42 Hansa Racing - 34
    5. #69 RevolutionSimRacing V - 32
    In GTE, YourNameHere Racing leads with 63 points, on the strength of two race wins. TeamRGPL, the other race winner, follows with 36. Raceland DE carries on with 35 points.
    1. #911 YourNameHere Racing - 63
    2. #77 TeamRGPL GTE - 36
    3. #30 Raceland DE - 35
    4. #73 MRS eRacing I - 31
    5. #81 Black Hawk Racing GTE - 29
    6. #12 Drace Motorsport - 29
    7. #74 MRS eRacing II - 29
    Next Race

    Race 4 of the P1LMS Championship crosses the Atlantic, to the sun-drenched land of Florida. Palm Springs is the track, May 11th the date.

    Credit to Jon Uyan for the screenshots
     
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