2014 F2RWRS Turkish Grand Prix

The 2014 F2RWRS Turkish Grand Prix was the first race of the 2014 F2RWRS season and the first race on a race track after the first F2 race being on the oval at Indianapolis. It was won by Mitchell Macklin who took home their first win for himself and Melrose Racing Team.

Report

Qualifying

The teams were shocked when they arrived at Istanbul to find that the track had almost no grip at all after being left disused for almost 3 years. Even into qualifying, the track was nowhere near perfect and as a result, with the singular exception of Alberto Cara, the cars that ran early had a major disadvantage. Wouter Lamberigts continued his incredible form from Indianapolis to score the point for pole position ahead of Cara, who put in quite possibly the lap of the year considering his was about 4th out on track, and Andrej Kremnicky. Johannes Rueckert was relatively disappointing in 9th but at least he beat his teammate Anton Bosevic who was nowhere on the grid.

Race

With everyone doing their second ever race in the F2RWRS and the first on a road course, you almost expected some carnage but not to the extent that eventuated. Wouter Lamberigts kept the lead from Alberto Cara on lap 1 but further back, Tommy Nash's race lasted half a lap before he and Marie Simon collided at turn 9 putting the Canadian out of the race and forcing the Frenchwoman in for a new rear wing while Johannes Rueckert spun on lap 2 after a poor start which scattered the midfield.

Lamberigts' lead lasted until lap 3 when Cara tapped the pair of them into a spin at turn 7. Rosco Vantini took the lead only to be passed by Andrej Kremnicky at the turn 9/10 chicane before getting the lead back at turn 11 when Kremnicky fell to third after spearing off the track at the bottom of the hill. The very next lap Vantini and Mitchell Macklin got into a barging match at the same chicane which promoted Niko Bellic into 2nd, Vantini then ran wide at the very next corner, rejoined alongside the Serbian and promptly took him out of the race which meant he had to come in for a new nosecone as well. While all this was happening, Dave Anderson's car gave up the ghost by spraying hot oil all over the engine and catching fire as the American pulled off to the side of the track.

Lap 5 Macklin was in the lead from Kremnicky before he too spun on the exit of turn 2 promoting Tanner Jason, who had somehow made his way through the carnage from 18th on the grid, into second and Hansuke Shioya into third. Reuckert's miserable afternoon ended when a wheel worked itself loose on lap 7 whilst running in a lowly midfield position. George Liquor, now running in the points, had a quick spin in turn 11 and rejoined on the fringes of the top 10. On the next lap it was Vantini and Giconi Okorie visiting the turn 11 runoff again in separate incidents whilst the pair were running 12th and 13th.

Du Lei became the next retirement when, on lap 9, she spun off at the difficult turn 8, made it all the way through the runoff, and clouted the wall quite heavily at the end of it. Catrina Lopes spun at the same spot the very next lap but unlike Lei, she was able to rejoin the race. And then, on lap 11, Laurent Seron spins across the track at turn 11 and stops on the grass verge on the inside of the corner. Thinking he's in the clear, the Belgian tries to rejoin but instead he simply steams into the path of Cara and Kremnicky. Cara just manages to avoid the Gillet car but the sickening impact behind him rips the Aston Martin apart and throws Seron's car several hundred meters down the race track. The red flag was immediately brought out. As they attended to the scene as it quickly became apparent that Kremnicky sustained serious but non-life threatening injuries from the impact. Seron got out of the car under his own power but he looked like to be in a lot of pain which was later traced to a fractured bone in his left arm. Kremnicky was extradited from the car with the help of the medical staff at the track and was taken to a local hospital by ambulance.

The race was restarted half an hour later with Lamberigts' miserable afternoon ending with suspension failure almost as soon as the race restarted. Many drivers made the first of two pitstops very soon after although nobody quite knew why so many people went with the two stopper. During this phase Jason, on a one stopper, took the lead of the race when Macklin pitted, who then proceeded to shove Shioya off the road on his outlap. Shioya's suspension collapsed a few laps later whilst running well up in the field promoting Michael Robertson, who was having an excellent race, into 4th. Simon and Alessandro Marchesi, both well down the field after their various escapades, collided at turn 9 in what was starting to turn into a demolition derby.

Robertson's fantastic run almost came to an end with a puncture caused by debris from the Kremnicky accident while Macklin, back in the lead after Jason made his stop, also had an unscheduled trip down pitlane when a wheel worked itself loose. Anton Bosevic was the next to spin at the now infamous turn 11 demoting him from 5th to 7th. And then the most heartbreaking moment of them all occured when Jason suffered a similar fate to Anderson, putting the American out of the race when a win was all but guaranteed.

The race then quietened down for a few laps before Giconi Okorie, who was now running last, had a spin at the exit of turn 8 soon after being lapped by several drivers. Behind him, Lopes had another moment through turn 8, this time making it as far as the gravel trap before continuing on her way. Marchesi was the next to lose it on lap 33 when he spun at turn 12 and lost 4th spot to Cara. It was also around this time that Bosevic had a puncture which brought Hydook's abysmal race to a premature close. Then, with just a few laps to go, Marco Bizzarri's car sprung a water leak which meant he was out of the race after a strong run in 2nd which promoted the second MRT of Simon, having clawed her way back from the lap 1 incident, into second and put Cara on the podium.

The action wasn't over there however as Robertson was hunting down Vantini at a vast rate of knots before he spun with 2 laps to go at turn 8 which meant he was consigned to 7th place, a scant reward considering he would have more than likely finished 2nd without that puncture. Even on the final lap, there were still points positions yet to be decided as Marchesi had caught back up to Cara and tried a move down into turn 9. Cara closed the door and the pair collided forcing the Tropican wide and putting the Italian into a spin.

In the end it was an MRT 1-2 amidst the carnage with Macklin a long way up the road from teammate Simon. Cara and Marchesi were 3rd and 4th with Liquor 5th, Vantini 6th, Robertson 7th and Sani Morgan, having avoided most of the trouble, picking up the final point for 8th place. Lopes was 9th with Okorie 10th and Marco Bizzarri 11th and last classified finisher.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap	Points
1	4	Wouter Lamberigts	Gillet	1:35.854	--	1
2	5	Alberto Cara	Beirão	1:35.863	+0.009
3	17	Andrej Kremnicky	Aston Martin	1:36.062	+0.208
4	7	Mitchell Macklin	MRT	1:36.421	+0.567
5	11	Rosco Vantini	Falik	1:36.668	+0.814
6	0	Tommy Nash	Young Lions	1:37.370	+1.516
7	3	Laurent Seron	Gillet	1:37.745	+1.891
8	8	Marie Simon	MRT	1:38.387	+2.533
9	15	Johannes Rueckert	Hydook	1:38.424	+2.570
10	22	Niko Bellic	Rising Ashes	1:38.439	+2.585
11	19	Dave Anderson	Simpson	1:38.686	+2.832
12	20	Hansuke Shioya	KitKat	1:38.778	+2.924
13	9	Marco Bizzarri	Trueba	1:38.885	+3.031
14	10	Du Lei	Trueba	1:38.995	+3.141
15	16	Alessandro Marchesi	Aston Martin	1:39.269	+3.415
16	6	Catarina Lopes	Beirão	1:39.860	+4.006
17	2	George Liquor	Young Lions	1:39.954	+4.100
18	23	Tanner Jason	Rising Ashes	1:40.255	+4.401
19	14	Anton Bosevic	Hydook	1:40.390	+4.536
20	12	Sani Morgan	Falik	1:40.408	+4.554
21	21	Giconi Okorie	KitKat	1:40.412	+4.558
22	18	Michael Robertson	Simpson	1:40.469	+4.615

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	7	Mitchell Macklin	MRT	38	1:03:43.008	4	10
2	8	Marie Simon	MRT	38	+45.869	8	8+1^
3	5	Alberto Cara	Beirão	38	+1:16.078	2	6
4	16	Alessandro Marchesi	Aston Martin	38	+1:17.966	15	5
5	2	George Liquor	Young Lions	38	+1:33.046	17	4
6	11	Rosco Vantini	Falik	38	+1:33.046	5	3
7	18	Michael Robertson	Simpson	37	+1 lap	22	2
8	12	Sani Morgan	Falik	37	+1 lap	20	1
9	6	Catarina Lopes	Beirão	37	+1 lap	16
10	21	Giconi Okorie	KitKat	36	+2 laps	21
11	9	Marco Bizzarri	Trueba	34	+4 laps	13
Ret	14	Anton Bosevic	Hydook	33	Puncture	20
Ret	23	Tanner Jason	Rising Ashes	33	Oil Leak	18
Ret	20	Hansuke Shioya	KitKat	15	Suspension	12
Ret	4	Wouter Lamberigts	Gillet	12	Suspension	1
Ret	3	Laurent Seron	Gillet	11	Collision	7
Ret	17	Andrej Kremnicky	Aston Martin	11	Collision	3
Ret	10	Du Lei	Trueba	9	Accident	14
Ret	15	Johannes Rueckert	Hydook	7	Loose Wheel	9
Ret	22	Niko Bellic	Rising Ashes	4	Collision	10
Ret	19	Dave Anderson	Simpson	4	Oil Leak	11
Ret	0	Tommy Nash	Young Lions	1	Collision	6

^ Marie Simon collected the fastest lap

Standings

• Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers

Pos	Driver	Pts
1	Mitchell Macklin	10
2	Marie Simon	9
3	Alberto Cara	6
4	Alessandro Marchesi	5
5	George Liquor	4

Constructors

Pos	Team	Pts
1	Virgin MRT	19
2	Beirao	6
3	Aston Martin	5
=4	Young Lions	4
=4	Falik Arrows	4

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

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