Marina Bay Singapore Round 11 World Championship Review
Eventa shine with first and third.
Brljak overcomes first corner “fur ball” to steal second.
Tough race with high attrition.
Circuit - 5.067 km. 23 corners. 61 laps
Tyres Super Soft - Soft
Weather 30 deg C. Chance of thunderstorm.
Circuit details.
The Marina Bay Circuit in down town Singapore, an F1 fixture since 2008 played host to round 11 of the Formula Sim Racing World Championship.
Like many street circuits, passing is difficult hence placing a premium on qualifying. It's close barriers can also tend to claim many victims over the length of a championship grand prix. The track surface is very smooth but Kerbs can prove to be significant obstacles.
Despite its lack of elevation changes most of the drivers seem to like driving it. Possibly due to the unique challenges it offers.
It can be hard on brakes as several failures in the Ace event can testify and while some down-force is helpful in the twisty sector 3 the car needs to be fast to have any chance of making a pass in the DRS zone that follows turn 5.
Groening Tyres technical representatives expected the majority of teams to select a 4 or 5 stop strategy. The undercut onto options works very well here.
For only the second time we again use real time real world weather conditions from a weather station in down town Singapore. The threat of a thunderstorm had moved to later in the night and teams breathed a sigh of relief as they headed into qualifying at about 12:30 am local time.
Qualifying.
Pole was secured by Frenchman Morgan Morand (Trines NetRex GP)who was driving only his second race for the 2015 season. He showed that his break had done nothing to blunt his superb one lap pace. 1m38.876
Drivers Championship leader Petar Brljak (Twister 2Fast4You) accompanied him on the front row with a defecit of only +0.148 1m39.024.
Third was Francesco Bigazzi (Eventa Simracing) 1m39.059 +0.183
Fourth was Turkish racer Cem Bolukbasi The Ace race winner from Saturday(Origin Front Row Racing). 1m39.314 +0.438
His team mate Kuba Brzezinski (Origin Front Row Racing) was just one place back in fifth. 1m39.410 +0.534
Sixth Eros Masciulli (Eventa Simracing) 1m39.410 +0.534
Seventh Jernej Simoncic (GhostSpeed Racing Team) 1m39.419 +0.543
Eighth Mike Partington (Faster Than Speed) 1m39.442 +0.566
Ninth Carlos Martín (Trines NetRex GP) 1m39.886 +1.010
Tenth Jonny Simon (GhostSpeed Racing Team) 1m40.039 +1.163
Race
Petar Brljak made a stunning getaway from the dirty side of the track and for a moment it seemed that he had left Morand standing. Morand however surged forwards later in the acceleration phase and had just enough overlap to allow him to fight almost side by side into turn 1. Both drivers appeared to choose a trajectory that would see them possibly safely through the turn all going well. However Brljaks car fell foul of a significant anti cut and was deflected sideways reducing the drivers margin to less than zero. The ensuing contact impacted both drivers and several behind them to some extent.
None less than Carlos Martin who was out after significant contact further back.
This denied the fans the chance to see who would prevail in a straight fight between the man who lead the 2014 title until COTA and the man who is leading in 2015. It did however spice it up a little as two very quick guys were effectively out of position and hungry to make up places.
The Eventa pairing of Bigazzi (row 2) and Masciulli (row 3) managed to slip through the carnage undamaged. Would the Eventa team seize the day?
Brzezinski had slipped into third, Simoncic fourth, Partington fifth and Brljak had recovered to sixth. Morand was tenth when the dust settled.
Lap 7. It was early when Simoncic from a promising fourth decided to pit, showing his hand was a five stop today. Brzezinski decided that it was too early to cover and still maintain a 4 stop plan and so continued. Brljak did respond next time around.
Lap 9. Brzezinski pits elevating Partington to third.
Lap 11 Bigazzi pits and manages to rejoin in third place with only his own team mate Masciulli and Partington ahead of him and Patel 13 seconds back. It was already starting to look good for the Italian. He seemed to have both pace and tyre wear on his side.
The race developed into a cat and mouse game of strategy. Overtakes were possible but the attacker needed to have a good top speed and be on fresh options and the defender on worn tyres for it to be any kind of certainty.
Due to the intensity of concentration and the diversity of strategies the drivers had to rely on their engineers on the pit wall to keep them up to date with who they were racing and who was on a different strategy and about to pit. Frequent calls had to be made; did he pit? What tyres did he take? Should I cover? Is it too early?.
Fuel was a big issue for several teams who had not managed to find a set up that combined good pace with adequate fuel consumption.
Frustration occurred when drivers felt they had better pace but could not execute a pass on a driver on a different strategy or the same strategy and possibly less pace at that moment.
Frustration boiled over on lap 30 when Morand was unable to execute a pass on Brzezinski. He went for a move into turn 18 the tight left hander under the hotel and locked up the rears hitting the wall and spinning Brzezinski. Ironically a protest by Morand saw Brzezinski lose a safety rating point for weaving earlier in that battle.
While all of this happened Francesco Bigazzi (Eventa Simracing) inexorably placed a grip on this race. Each stop he made he was returning to the track with fewer drivers ahead of him. In fact in his first stop he retuned to two drivers ahead of him, his second stop only his team mate Masciulli, his third stop saw him rejoin in clear air.
Race End
Bigazzi sealed his maiden win with a superb drive.
Mike Partington had also seized on the opportunity and with a great 3 stop drive crossed the line in Second place. He would unfortunately fall foul of the stewards for track limits and the resulting 30 sec penalty saw him relegated to a still strong sixth.
Meanwhile the battle for the minor places Brljak had managed to pull himself clear of the intense traffic in the top ten. His drive included the fastest lap of the race. He would finish in third on the road. A ten second penalty for being the most responsible for the turn one contact still saw him in second place due to Partingtons relegation.
The podium was completed with Eventas Eros Masciulli to make it not one but two Eventas on the rostrum. Congratulations to them for a huge race. Masciulli secures his first podium in what is also only his third points finish in 2015 FSR WC.
Brzezinski would fight back from the contact and spin after a tense long final stint on the options net fourth place with a one place promotion.
Patel secured fifth from outside the top 10.
Still in sixth even after a 30 sec penalty was Partington.
Seventh was Simoncic. Whose pace and strategy earned him the second fastest race lap of 1:40.817 but didn’t quite get him the track position he needed.
Eighth was secured by Morand after the stewards applied a 6 second penalty following a contact with Simoncic on lap 60.
Ninth was Jonny Simon after a frustrating race of fuel saving.
Final point was to Thomas Satherly in tenth.
Bigazzis maiden win makes him the sixth race winner this season in the World Championship!.
We should have seen it coming. His recent results have included fourth in China, then a 3rd in Canada where his qualifying pace was nothing short of stunning. He followed Canada with another 3rd in Monza and repeated it in Spa. It was just a matter of time before he managed to put the whole weekend together. So he now adds a win to his tally of three podiums. Congratulations.
His win and Masciullis third has also elevated Eventa into second place in a very tight three way fight for second in the constructors championship.
Full results are available HERE
Leaving it looking like this with 3 rounds to go.
1. Twister 2Fast4You 349
2. Eventa Simracing 153
3. Twister Racing Team 149
4. Origin Front Row Racing 147
5. GhostSpeed Racing Team 99
6. GS Engineering 44
7. Avid Chronic Racing Team 43
8. Faster Than Speed 35
9. Trines NetRex GP 33
10. BBR Life4Racing 30
11. MadCape Racing Team 25
Highs and Lows.
Francesco Bigazzi High: 3rd in qualifying and a commanding race win. Low: None
Morgan Morand High: Pole in a rare 2015 appearance. Low: first corner contact denies him a chance to attempt to finish the job.
Petar Brljak High: Front row start and fight back to second place. Low: Unfortunate contact Turn 1.
Eros Masciulli High: Climb from 6th on grid to first FSR WC podium in a career that starts in 2012.
The Minor Honours
Pole Morgan Morand (Trines NetRex GP) 1m38.876
Fastest Lap Petar Brljak ( Twister 2Fast4You) 1m40.551
Driver Standings
With 3 rounds to go:
Brljak moves further ahead with 205 points
Patel (sees Brzezinski creep a little closer to within 13 points)on 144
Brzezinski 131
Parisis 117
Bigazzi moves into the frame with 100.
Full table available HERE
Can Patel hold off Brzezinski?
Will Bigazzi overtake Parisis?
Will Morand come back try to take a win?
What will the weather do?
We'll find out soon. Stay tuned, we hope to see you in Japan for round 12 at Suzuka next weekend!
'23 Champion Jernej Simoncic
PRO Champion Victor Ivanov
ACA Champion Thomas Smit
