Welcome to live coverage of the third round of the IJGPC from Suzuka. After the first two rounds, in which Yrjana Vahasoyrinki won the inaugural race in Australia for Fun GP2 and Bayurn Zrigovic gave Westwood their dream debut in China along with Luke Stokey, the pecking order is still yet to be fully seen. Other strong starters include Mikko Heininen for Morley Engineering, the F1FVGPC boss seeming to back a winner, and Juan Alejandro for the VW backed Lucas Wilson outfit, while Jamie Gerrard and Frances Bouvert have started steadily for Liverpool Grand Prix Junior Team and Peurteor respectively. Who will be the next winner in the championship, and will a clear contender emerge from the pack? QUALIFYINGWell, the qualifying session certainly threw up a few surprises! The pole position went to Peuteor driver Frances Bouvert, with a stunning lap that left the rest of the field behind. In second place, Bayurn Zrigovic continued his impressive form, while Mikko Heininen gave another example of his supreme consistency in 3rd. Luis Pesdebills shocked by qualifying 4th, while Felipe Cesar, Dino Palma and Juan Alejandro followed. At the other end of the grid, Liverpool Grand Prix Junior Team had a horrible session, Gerrard in 15th and Michael Wilkins on the final grid spot. Yrjana Vahasoyrinki had a nightmare, only finding the pace to get 16th in his car, while Luke Stokey raised doubts about his one lap pace after a great debut, taking 19th place. The full grid lines up as follows:
RACEThe race is 55 laps long, and the field is set up on the grid, ready to begin what should be a fascinating event. The lights are illuminated, one, two, three, four, five, long hold... and it's lights out and away we go in Japan! Pole sitter Bouvert makes a fantastic start, but it is Pesdebills on the move, with a fantastic launch! Pesdebills cuts inside Zrigovic, who is on the outside for the first corner. Alejandro also moves off fast, but Heininen is the big loser, bogging down off the line, losing two spots. Into the first corner, the first few got through cleanly, but it is Palma and Costa jostling for position. Palma brakes early, causing a concertina, as Dubois and Brandon take avoiding action, but Moretti can't react fast enough, hitting the back of Dekzwabber! The Team 23 driver is not damaged, but Moretti is out! One wheel has come clean off, and the other is pointing in the wrong direction completely. Hectic stuff in the race. On Lap 9, Bouvert leads Cesar and Pesdebills, while Zrigovic is 4th and Heininen 5th. Lap 15: Zrigovic sees a gap into the turn 11 hairpin, and dives down the inside of Cesar, sensational move! Lap 17: Heininen goes through 130R side by side with Alejandro, and they both make it! Still side by side, Alejandro has the inside line into the Casio Triangle, and takes the 5th spot. Lap 21: At the back, Germund Svensson misses the apex for the first part of Spoon, running off the track allowing Certonio and Wilkins through. Standings after Lap 28 of 55:
Lap 35: Juan Alejandro continues to battle with Zrigovic and Cesar, and they are running very close. Into the hairpin, Alejandro dives down the inside, gets through... but Zrigovic gets a better exit on the run to Spoon curve, and remains ahead, although Cesar drops to 5th. Alejandro follows Zrigovic around Spoon, but gets a much better exit, nearly side by side onto the back straight. He has to pull back through 130R, but Alejandro gets onto the right hand line coming upto the final chicane, and Alejandro finally gets through. Lap 42: Heininen comes through 130R a bit too fast, and a snap of oversteer nearly sends him into the wall, but a great save means he continues, only losing 2 places to Palma and Costa. Lap 48: Costa and Palma are running close along the back straight, and Palma takes a look inside into 130R - as we saw earlier it takes a brave driver to manage that! They head through the Casio Triangle line astern, but Palma gets wheelspin on the exit, and Costa is alongside running down the pit straight on the outside, and dives in front through turn one! Sensational stuff from the Scuderia Rossi driver. Lap 52: Christos Lostovolos is being hounded by Stokey and Vito Certonio, and the pressure gets to him as he straightlines the chicane, and he is losing time all the way down the straight, and Stokey goes to the left, Certonio to the right into turn one... they both get through, Stokey ahead of Certonio ahead of Lostovolos! Lap 55: Bouvert takes the chequered flag, becoming the third driver to win in three races with a sensational performance. Luis Pesdebills shows that he isn't just a bank account for Team 23 with a near perfect podium, and Mr Consistency Juan Alejandro rounds out the top three. The final placings are as follows:
This result means Bouvert takes the championship lead, while Zrigovic is only 4 points down despite missing round one, and Alejandro is 6 points behind after 3 solid finishes. After a disappointing race, Vahasoyrinki is 7 points behind. The teams championship sees Westwood top, while Peurteor will be pleasing the Peugeot bosses, and Lucas Wilson are third, 14 points behind.
3 Comments
Lucas
3/11/2013 08:47:38 pm
Great result for us and Volkswagen, first podium :-)
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Diceman
3/11/2013 09:11:27 pm
:-(
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Sozavele
3/11/2013 11:08:25 pm
Great for Bouvert!
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