Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
The first triple-sprint round of the NLRL Sunday League's 7th season continues Ferrari and Euro Titans Endurance's hot streak with Fake Galaxy battling Round 1's race winner Carlos Diesch to 3 consecutive victories in the mighty Mount Panorama Circuit.
The round started off to a strong time in Free Practice by Fake Galaxy, with Defending Sunday League champion Tylor Vermaak in 2nd, Diesch made 3rd, and Alan Alexander made 4th in a Bentley double-top-5. As Qualifying began, it was Declan Anderson to spearhead the charge towards the first times of the day, Anderson had recently transferred to McLaren for R2 following a brief tenure at Mercedes. Shortly after his first time, Carlos Diesch would snatch pole position. Fake Galaxy would follow, and the two ETE drivers would trade blows for Pole Position, ultimately remaining in Galaxy's possession by a razor thin 0.030s margin, Anderson made 3rd ahead of Vermaak, and Brooklyn Donkin rounded out the top 5. David Kolařík would claim the AM pole position from 14th overall.
QUALIFYING SUMMARY (TOP 5)
- Fake GALAXY (AUT) - Ferrari - 1:59.942
- Carlos DIESCH (SUI) - Ferrari - 1:59.972
- Declan ANDERSON (GBR) - McLaren - 2:00.332
- Tylor VERMAAK (RSA) - Bentley - 2:00.357
- Brooklyn DONKIN (GBR) - Ford - 2:00.370
RACE 1:
Race 1 opened with a strong start by Carlos Diesch, who from around the outside at Turn 1 snatched away the lead from Galaxy, behind, Tylor Vermaak rose to 3rd after Declan Anderson ran wide at Turn 2, as the race continued, the top 3 would continue to build distance to the rest of the field, in the closing minutes of Race 1, Fake Galaxy would get past Diesch in a fantastic overtake at The Chase between turns 20-22. with only 2 laps to spare, Galaxy would lead in to an ultra-late pit strategy, one mimicked by Diesch as the two waited until the last available chance to make their mandatory pit stop, disaster met Diesch on exit, as he would pick up a Stop Go 30s penalty for speeding into the pit entry
Fake Galaxy won race 1 ahead of Tylor Vermaak and NotLastRacing's Zsolt Beefgartner, the latter of which promoted to a podium due to Diesch's penalty, in AM; David Kolařík secured their second division win of Season 7
RACE 2:
Race 2 kicked off to a strong defence by Galaxy to this time hold the lead away from Diesch, meanwhile, a mirror match played out for the last podium spot, as Declan Anderson ran wide again at Turn 2, allowing Vermaak to advance to 3rd, Patrick Leger gained ground as well, moving to 4th, multiple casualties emerged over the opening laps, including Patrik Capko and Gabriel Rivera
As the race raged on, Diesch would be forced to defend for both his position and for his teammate in front, as he faced a double threat from Vermaak and Leger, behind, Alan Alexander, Brooklyn Donkin and Zsolt Beefgartner fought inside the top 10, this would dramatically turn for Donkin, who spun down The Dipper, stranded in a blind zone while traffic narrowly dodged his stranded Mustang.
Towards the midway, disaster would strike both ETE and 5Star, as an attempted overtake by Patrick Leger on his teammate Tylor Vermaak would result in a spin for Leger, colliding with Vermaak, as well as Monumental Motorsport's Taylor Wane, moments later, Carlos Diesch would run into trouble at McPhillamy Park on the run into Skyline, dropping several positions, with damage that later proved it impossible to retain a hold of a top 10 finish, Diesch ultimately finished 20th in Race 2.
In the closing lap of Race 2, 5 drivers attempted a last-lap pit, of them, Zsolt Beefgartner would unfortunately collect a Stop-Go 30s penalty for speeding, this would allow Cas Van Velzen to advance to a P3 finish at the end of Race 2, the Season 5 drivers champion would see his first podium since S6 R7's Feature Race in Imola.
Fake Galaxy secured another win in Race 2, with Vermaak 2nd and Van Velzen 3rd, in AM, it was another victory for David Kolařík.
RACE 3:
The third and final race of Round 2 played out much like Race 1, with momentum back on the side of Carlos Diesch, Vermaak would snatch away P3 from Anderson, but disaster would strike for both Joey Fisher after an incident at Turn 2, and Patrick Leger at The Cuttings at turns 3-4, the latter resulting in a retirement for Leger.
7 minutes into the race, Diesch and Galaxy's fight came to a head out of turn 23, with a switchback by Galaxy, Diesch held from the outside into Turn 1, leaving the two neck and neck up the Mountain Straight, ultimately, Fake Galaxy got the upper hand at Turn 2, re-establishing his lead. This fight gave greater momentum to another fight behind it, as both Cas Van Velzen and Tylor Vermaak closed in on the front row, this would shortly escalate to a fight for P2 after Diesch tumbled down The Esses after the back of his Ferrari came loose under braking, this fight would be short lived, however, as Van Velzen would also find trouble in the Esses, coming loose down Skyline and facing the wrong way into traffic, this allowed Diesch to re-engage the top 5, but also allowed Declan Anderson to rise to the podium.
On the same lap, a controversial incident arose at Turn 23 onto the opening straight, as a pack of approaching cars attempted to unlap the #19 Ferrari of Thomas Romano, among this pack was ETE's Brooklyn Donkin and Alan Alexander, between them, Monumental's Taylor Wane, Donkin dove suddenly to the inside on Romano, but as the two rounded turn 23 they made contact, forcing Donkin off-track, in a stroke of sudden vigilantism, Alexander took it upon himself to barge Romano into the wall in response to what was otherwise an accident, directly in view of the camera, peculiarly at the time of writing no formal report or inquiry ever made it to NLRL Race Control, and this blatantly intentional action has yet to be recognized by any involved.
As Race 3 progressed, a peculiar incident befell Tylor Vermaak, who became suddenly motionless at Turn 4, halting his car and towing to the pit lane, no current official explanation has risen to explain this anomalous event, this allowed an easier path for Carlos Diesh to return to a podium.
Fake Galaxy would win Race 3, with Diesch 2nd and Taylor Wane secured their first Sunday League podium for 3rd.
RACE SUMMARY (TOP 5)
PRO:
RACE 1:
- Fake GALAXY (AUT) - Ferrari - Euro Titans Endurance
- Tylor VERMAAK (RSA) - Bentley - 5Star Esports
- Zsolt BEEFGARTNER (HUN) - Lexus - NotLastRacing
- Brooklyn DONKIN (GBR) - Ford - Euro Titans Endurance
- Cas VAN VELZEN (NED) - Mercedes-AMG - Euro Titans Endurance
RACE 2:
- Fake GALAXY (AUT) - Ferrari - Euro Titans Endurance
- Tylor VERMAAK (RSA) - Bentley - 5Star Esports
- Cas VAN VELZEN (NED) - Mercedes-AMG - Euro Titans Endurance
- Alan ALEXANDER (GBR) - Bentley - Euro Titans Endurance
- Kieran RODD (GBR) - Ferrari - Euro Titans Endurance
RACE 3:
- Fake GALAXY (AUT) - Ferrari - Euro Titans Endurance
- Carlos DIESCH (SUI) - Ferrari - Euro Titans Endurance
- Taylor WANE - Ford - Monumental Motorsport
- Alan ALEXANDER (GBR) - Bentley - Euro Titans Endurance
- Zsolt BEEFGARTNER (HUN) - Lexus - NotLastRacing
AM:
RACE 1:
- David KOLAŘÍK - Ferrari - Bohemia Motorsport
- Julian ACQUATI (NOR) - Mercedes-AMG - 5Star Esports
- Petr KUCHAR (CZE) - BMW - Bohemia Motorsport
- Gabriel RIVERA (ESP) - Lamborghini - 5Star Esports
- Tomáš MINARČÍK (CZE) - Ferrari - Bohemia Motorsport
RACE 2:
- David KOLAŘÍK - Ferrari - Bohemia Motorsport
- Tomáš MINARČÍK (CZE) - Ferrari - Bohemia Motorsport
- Petr KUCHAR (CZE) - BMW - Bohemia Motorsport
- Julian ACQUATI (NOR) - Mercedes-AMG - 5Star Esports
- Gabriel RIVERA (ESP) - Lamborghini - 5Star Esports
RACE 3:
- David KOLAŘÍK - Ferrari - Bohemia Motorsport
- Julian ACQUATI (NOR) - Mercedes-AMG - 5Star Esports
- Tomáš MINARČÍK (CZE) - Ferrari - Bohemia Motorsport
- Gabriel RIVERA (ESP) - Lamborghini - 5Star Esports
- Patrik CAPKO (CZE) - Ford - Privateer
The Sunday League grid heads to America this weekend with Round 3 at the Watkins Glen International Circuit in New York, full live action and replays can be found exclusively on TRTN, results and standings are available for viewing on the NLRL Simgrid, under "NLRL Sunday League Season 7 - Brought to you by TRTN"