2011 F1RWRS Belgian Grand Prix

The 2011 F1RWRS Belgian Grand Prix was the fifth race of the 2011 F1RWRS Season The race was won by Daniel Melrose after a series of collisions caused chaos throughout the race.

Race Report

Pre-Race

Prior the Belgian Grand Prix, Rosenforth Engineering went bankrupt, but as the team had already arrived in Belgium, it would be their final race. Phoenix McAllister would set up Team Phoenix, and Frank Zimmer with his brother John would use the remains of Rosenforth to set up the NAB-Holden Racing Team after signing a sponsorship deal with National Australia Bank and forming a stronger bond with Holden than John already had. Both these teams would debut at the next round, the 2011 F1RWRS British Grand Prix.

Qualifying

Douglas Mann, who had finished second in the previous race at the Nurburgring, Hagane Shizuka, Luca Pacchiarini and Aurelien Moll all failed to make it out of pre-qualifying. However, Nathanael Spencer took his first pole of the season, beating Daniel Melrose and the two Rosenforth drivers of McAllister and Frank Zimmer.

Race

At the start, Gary Cameron jumped up to third and Melrose took the lead from Spencer. Cameron, Frank Zimmer and Hemo Goblin pitted. By lap five, Melrose, Spencer, David Koczo and Darren Older Jr were battling for the lead until Older Jr made a mistake a Blanchimont. Melrose lost the lead to the Prospecs with Koczo leading at the end of lap 7. Melrose then pitted for a suspension repair after brushing the wall earlier.

Meanwhile, the stoppers, led by Frank Zimmer and Simon Redman, began to close in on the lead. Zimmer took the lead on lap 11 and Redman took second two laps later. However, on lap 14, disaster struck as Kay Lon slammed into the wall after contact with Gary Cameron. Both drivers took heavy damage but continued though they both received a black and orange flag, a process that would make a recurring appearance in the race, forcing them to pit. Giovanni Roda and Sammy Jones both crashed and received black and orange flags. John Zimmer then collided with the slowing Lon, followed by a host of other drivers in the next four laps. The entire field of cars was flagged at some point. Chaos ensued with drivers going in and out of the pits on every lap.

Somehow, Melrose ended up in the lead with T. Hemo Goblin in second and Thomas De Bock third. Roda turned up in fourth followed by Ashley Watkinson and polesitter Nathanael Spencer. Sammy Jones, Simon Redman, and Chris Dagnall did not finish and Gary Cameron was not classified. Kay Lon was later disqualified for careless driving. Melrose took fastest lap.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Pre-Q	Time	Gap
1	3	Nathanael Spencer	Prospec	1:39.13	1:36.10	--
2	10	Daniel Melrose	JLD-BMW	1:39.23	1:36.30	+0.20
3	6	Frank Zimmer	Rosenforth-Jaguar	1:39.42	1:36.54	+0.44
4	7	Phoenix McAllister	Rosenforth-Jaguar	1:40.74	1:36.62	+0.52
5	4	David Koczo	Prospec	1:41.08	1:36.85	+0.75
6	15	T. Hemo Goblin	Hemogoblin-Ford	1:40.28	1:36.93	+0.83
7	1	Gary Cameron	Calinetic-Ford	1:39.73	1:37.19	+1.09
8	2	Thomas De Bock	Calinetic-Ford	1:39.38	1:37.32	+1.22
9	11	Darren Older Jr	CR-Ford	1:40.95	1:37.43	+1.33
10	18	Chris Dagnall	Jones-Renault	1:40.22	1:37.62	+1.52
11	14	Kay Lon	Kahama-Ford	1:41.17	1:37.86	+1.76
12	23	John Zimmer	ZimSport-Holden	1:41.57	1:37.94	+1.84
13	17	Sammy Jones	Jones-Renault	1:41.50	1:38.12	+2.02
14	9	Ashley Watkinson	Pacchia-Coswojuddhartlambo	1:41.28	1:38.30	+2.20
15	16	Dave Simpson	Minardi-Cosworth	1:39.69	1:38.49	+2.39
16	21	Pippa Mann	AMR-Peel-DMC	1:40.11	1:38.64	+2.54
17	19	Giovanni Roda	Trueba-Judd	1:40.63	1:38.89	+2.79
18	13	Simon Redman	Kahama-Ford	1:40.54	1:39.08	+2.98
19	5	James Davies	Bangelia-Alfa Romeo	1:40.06	1:39.17	+3.07
DNPQ	20	Douglas Mann	AMR-Peel-DMC	1:41.84
DNPQ	12	Hagane Shizuka	West Cliff-Chevrolet	1:41.85
DNPQ	8	Luca Pacchiarini	Pacchia-Coswojuddhartlambo	1:42.06
DNPQ	22	Aurelien Moll	ECB-Gillet	1:42.20

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	10	Daniel Melrose	JLD-BMW	30	1:01:20.00	2	16
2	15	T. Hemo Goblin	Hemogoblin-Ford	30	+1:36.28	6	10
3	2	Thomas De Bock	Calinetic-Ford	29	+1 lap	8	8
4	19	Giovanni Roda	Trueba-Judd	29	+1 lap	17	5
5	9	Ashley Watkinson	Pacchia-Coswojuddhartlambo	29	+1 lap	14	4
6	3	Nathanael Spencer	Prospec	27	+3 laps	1	4
7	3	John Zimmer	ZimSport-Holden	27	+3 laps	12	2
8	4	David Koczo	Prospec	27	+3 laps	5	1
9	11	Darren Older Jr	CR-Ford	27	+3 laps	9
10	16	Dave Simpson	Minardi-Cosworth	27	+3 laps	15
11	21	Pippa Mann	AMR-Peel-DMC	27	+3 laps	16
12	7	Phoenix McAllister	Rosenforth-Jaguar	27	+3 laps	4
13	5	James Davies	Bangelia-Alfa Romeo	26	+4 laps	19
14	6	Frank Zimmer	Rosenforth-Jaguar	26	+4 laps	3
NC	1	Gary Cameron	Calinetic-Ford	22	+8 laps	7
DNF	13	Simon Redman	Kahama-Ford	21	Collision	18
DNF	18	Chris Dagnall	Jones-Renault	20	Collision	10
DNF	17	Sammy Jones	Jones-Renault	17	Collision	13
DSQ	14	Kay Lon	Kahama-Ford	26	Careless driving	11
DNPQ	20	Douglas Mann	AMR-Peel-DMC
DNPQ	12	Hagane Shizuka	West Cliff-Chevrolet
DNPQ	8	Luca Pacchiarini	Pacchia-Coswojuddhartlambo
DNPQ	22	Aurelien Moll	ECB-Gillet

• Pole Position: Nathanael Spencer: 1:36.10
• Fastest Lap: Daniel Melrose: 1:36.40

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 font indicates who still has a chance of winning the championship.

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Nathanael Spencer	34
2	Daniel Melrose	23
3=	Simon Redman	20
3=	Chris Dagnall	20
5	Thomas De Bock	14

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Prospec	45
2	Calinetic-Ford	32
3=	AMR-Peel-DMC	24
3=	Rosenforth-Jaguar	24
5	JLD-BMW	23

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

Previous race: 2011 Luxembourg Grand Prix	Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series Championship 2011 Season	Next race: 2011 British Grand Prix
Previous race: 2010 Belgian Grand Prix	Belgian Grand Prix	Next race: 2012 Belgian Grand Prix