2011 F1RWRS Bavarian Grand Prix

The 2011 F1RWRS Bavarian Grand Prix was the inaugural race of the 2011 Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series season, as well as the inaugural Bavarian Grand Prix. The race was held at the Norisring. Simon Redman won the race for Kahama Motorsports.

Race Report

Background

The long-awaited start of the 2011 F1RWRS season was held at a brand-new venue: the Norisring, a circuit located on the streets of Nuremberg, Germany. To go along with the new venue, there were no less than seven new teams and a host of new drivers joining the series. With all these new entries, pre-qualifying was needed to trim the field to a manageable size. Pre-quali was to take place in three heats; the drivers would be divided up into two heats, post their fastest times, and the slowest four would be eliminated. Then, the remaining drivers would compete for the fastest time. Testing revealed very little, as the times were perennially inconsistent. Reigning champ Gary Cameron was the only driver to record a top five time in every test session.

Qualifying

Gary Cameron placed his Calinetic on pole position for the first race of the season, continuing his good form from last year. Dave Simpson placed his Australian Minardi third on the grid after a smashing lap, a great start for the new team. All in all, the field was very tight; only 1.05 seconds separated pole from 19th position. Unfortunately, neither RubberTex-Jones Racing's cars made the grid, joining Hagane Shizuka and Luca Pacchiarini.

Race

The 2011 season started with a rather embarrassing penalty for Aurelien Moll who jumped the start and subsequently received a drive-through. Frank Zimmer made a good start and got past Cameron at the first hairpin. However, that lead didn't last long as Daniel Melrose passed both Cameron and Zimmer at the chicane to take the lead at the end of the first lap. On Lap 3, Melrose made a slight mistake, allowing Zimmer to muscle his way through. An enormous train was building up behind the leaders, but that did not faze Gary Cameron, who passed Melrose on Lap 4. Melrose then retook the lead at the end of Lap 5, passing his two adversaries again.

Chaos, now expected in this series, broke on Lap 6, with cars spinning everywhere. The top five all lost it at the hairpin, leaving Nathanael Spencer to take the lead. Spencer's lead didn't last long; Melrose had repassed him by the end of Lap 8. Giovanni Roda was the first to pit on Lap 9, but on his exit, Roda slowed up the frontrunners, letting the midfield catch up. Thomas De Bock grabbed third place, but pitted along with Redman, Cameron, Simpson and Davies.

On Lap 13, Melrose pitted, letting Spencer assume the lead. However, Melrose's stop was a few laps too late as the cars who had stopped had already caught up to the ones who hadn't. This basically stuffed the races of those who hadn't stopped on Lap 11, leaving Simon Redman to take the lead on Lap 18. Melrose was still in the best position of the non-stoppers and he used his speed to catch up to the stoppers. He eventually finished 5th. For Redman, the strategic call to pit on Lap 11 proved decisive as he took his first career victory, as well as the first Bavarian Grand Prix. Thomas De Bock was a stellar second; he was also amongst those who pitted on Lap 11, yet he was caught in traffic for a while and was unable to take the fight to Redman. Defending champ Cameron (another Lap 11 stopper) came third and Dave Simpson came in fourth, the first of the new teams. Melrose was fifth, Frank Zimmer sixth, Roda seventh for the new boys at Trueba, and McAllister was 8th, rounding out the points-paying positions. Frank Zimmer claimed the fastest lap and the one-points bonus with a 0.33.61.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Pre-Q	Time	Gap
1	1	Gary Cameron	Calinetic-Ford	0:33.70	0:33.54	—
2	6	Frank Zimmer	Rosenforth-Jaguar	0:34.09	0:33.67	+0.13
3	16	Dave Simpson	Minardi-Cosworth	0:33.54	0:33.72	+0.18
4	10	Daniel Melrose	JLD-BMW	0:33.82	0:33.79	+0.25
5	7	Phoenix McAllister	Rosenforth-Jaguar	0:34.04	0:33.80	+0.26
6	4	David Koczo	Prospec	0:33.69	0:33.81	+0.27
7	13	Simon Redman	Kahama-Ford	0:34.20	0:33.91	+0.37
8	3	Nathanael Spencer	Prospec	0:33.49	0:33.92	+0.38
9	11	Darren Older Jr.	CR-Ford	0:33.84	0:33.99	+0.45
10	5	James Davies	Bangelia-Alfa Romeo	0:33.64	0:34.11	+0.57
11	2	Thomas De Bock	Calinetic-Ford	0:33.65	0:34.14	+0.60
12	14	Kay Lon	Kahama-Ford	0:34.28	0:34.23	+0.69
13	19	Giovanni Roda	Trueba-Judd	0:34.09	0:34.25	+0.71
14	23	John Zimmer	ZimSport-Holden	0:34.07	0:34.27	+0.73
15	20	Douglas Mann	AMR-Peel-DMC	0:34.34	0:34.32	+0.78
16	9	Ashley Watkinson	Pacchia-Coswojuddhartlambo	0:33.75	0:34.51	+0.97
17	21	Pippa Mann	AMR-Peel-DMC	0:33.88	0:34.54	+1.00
18	15	T. Hemo Goblin	Hemogoblin-Ford	0:33.86	0:34.62	+1.04
19	22	Aurelien Moll	ECB-Gillet	0:34.31	0:34.63	+1.05
DNPQ	12	Hagane Shizuka	West Cliff-Chevrolet	0:34.38
DNPQ	18	Chris Dagnall	Jones-Renault	0:34.40
DNPQ	17	Sammy Jones	Jones-Renault	0:34.48
DNPQ	8	Luca Pacchiarini	Pacchia-Coswojuddhartlambo	0:34.53

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	13	Simon Redman	Kahama-Ford	30	19:20.85	7	15
2	2	Thomas De Bock	Calinetic-Ford	30	+12.18	11	10
3	1	Gary Cameron	Calinetic-Ford	30	+12.65	1	9
4	16	Dave Simpson	Minardi-Cosworth	30	+13.03	15	5
5	10	Daniel Melrose	JLD-BMW	30	+25.65	4	4
6	6	Frank Zimmer	Rosenforth-Jaguar	30	+32.25	2	4
7	19	Giovanni Roda	Trueba-Judd	30	+35.01	13	2
8	7	Phoenix McAllister	Rosenforth-Jaguar	30	+36.37	5	1
9	5	James Davies	Bangelia-Alfa Romeo	30	+40.83	10
10	20	Douglas Mann	AMR-Peel-DMC	29	+1 lap	15
11	3	Nathanael Spencer	Prospec	29	+1 lap	8
12	14	Kay Lon	Kahama-Ford	29	+1 lap	12
13	22	Aurelien Moll	ECB-Gillet	29	+1 lap	19
14	9	Ashley Watkinson	Pacchia-Coswojuddhartlambo	29	+1 lap	16
15	15	T. Hemo Goblin	Hemogoblin-Ford	29	+1 lap	18
16	11	Darren Older, Jr.	CR-Ford	29	+1 lap	9
17	4	David Koczo	Prospec	29	+1 lap	6
18	21	Pippa Mann	AMR-Peel-DMC	29	+1 lap	17
19	23	John Zimmer	ZimSport-Holden	29	+1 lap	14
DNPQ	12	Hagane Shizuka	West Cliff-Chevrolet
DNPQ	18	Chris Dagnall	Jones-Renault
DNPQ	17	Sammy Jones	Jones-Renault
DNPQ	8	Luca Pacchiarini	Pacchia-Coswojuddhartlambo

• Pole Position: Gary Cameron: 0:33.54
• Fastest Lap: Frank Zimmer: 0:33.61

Note: For the 2011 and 2012 seasons, one point was awarded to the driver with pole position and the driver with the fastest lap.

Standings after the race

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

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Simon Redman	15
2	Thomas De Bock	10
3	Gary Cameron	9
4	Dave Simpson	5
5=	Daniel Melrose	4
5=	Frank Zimmer	4

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Calinetic-Ford	19
2	Kahama-Ford	15
3	Minardi-Cosworth	5
4	Rosenforth-Jaguar	5
5	JLD-BMW	4

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

Previous race: 2010 Australian Grand Prix	Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series Championship 2011 Season	Next race: 2011 German Grand Prix
Previous race: None	Bavarian Grand Prix	Next race: 2012 Bavarian Grand Prix