2014 F2RWRS Austrian Grand Prix

The 2014 F2RWRS Austrian Grand Prix was the fifth race of the 2014 F2RWRS season. It would be Alberto Cara who would take home the victory and would create history by being the first Tropico driver to win a race.

Report

Qualifying

While Friday was an effective washout, the Saturday weather was a pleasant surprise for the team and it was to all the teams' credit that the field was so close in qualifying despite having about an hour and a half of dry running at most to work in. Alberto Cara scored his second pole in a row with a sub-75 second lap but in reality, all of the top 4 had a more than realistic chance of getting pole position, including the surprise of the day in Hansuke Shioya. In his first race for the Holden team in the F2RWRS, Jason Hamilton was almost as anonymous as George Liquor was by qualifying outside the top 10 while Phil McCracken was yet again destroyed by the field as he was a long way behind in 22nd and last place.

Race

It was another dry, if a bit cool, day in the Austrian foothills which Wouter Lamberigts took full advantage of to catapult himself into the lead of the race. Behind the first few rows, all hell was breaking loose with Niko Bellic losing his front wing on Michael Robertson's left rear in the first turn bump and grind while Phil McCracken made THE start of the year to go from 22nd to 15th in one lap. Marie Simon had lost several positions off the start and was stuck behind Dave Anderson. A move into turn 1 on lap 2 didn't end well for the Frenchwoman as instead of gaining a place, she lost one to Tommy Nash on the run up the hill.

With Lamberigts, Mitchell Macklin and Alberto Cara skipping away from Hansuke Shioya and co, the frantic action in the bottom end of the points and the midfield continued. Any chance Dave Anderson and Tommy Nash had for points ended on lap 3 when the two collided putting Nash on his lid and Anderson in the pits for a new front wing. As a testament to the strength of the cars, Nash was able to continue but a long way behind the field. By this point, Tanner Jason had already made his way up to 13th, which soon became 12th when he got past Young Lions rookie Jason Hamilton.

Behind him, Phil McCracken had made his way up to 14th but was forced to pit to replace a component on his front right suspension. On the very next lap, Macklin and Lamberigts collided putting the Australian in a spin and stuck in the middle of the track. Cara made his way past and into second but Rosco Vantini, the next car onto the scene, didn't and as a result Macklin was in the pits for a new front wing and Vantini was out as a result of the collision. Cara made his way into the lead on lap 6 at the same place where Macklin failed before Terry Hawkin also made his way past his teammate at the very next corner.

Behind Simon in 4th, Shioya, Marco Bizzari, Alessandro Marchesi, Johannes Rueckert and Du Lei were in a fierce battle for the remaining points positions with the group frequently swapping positions as the midfield was still relatively compressed behind the Japanese driver. A few laps latter and with Bizzari falling back from the battle, Tanner Jason joined them and was as high as 7th before falling down the order again when Lei tapped him off the track. Further up the front and Simon had wasted no time in catching and passing Lamberigts into turn 1. A few laps later, Lamberigts' teammate Hawkin did exactly the same thing on Cara to assume the lead of the race.

With the pitstops coming up, Cara was still in the box seat to win the race as he was making one less stop than Hawkin, Simon and Lamberigts. Shioya and Marchesi in 5th and 6th were both on the one stopper as well but that didn't stop Marchesi putting a move on Shioya into turn 2 to take 5th. On the next lap, Jason and Nash were battling for P16 when the two collided putting Jason into a quick 180 spin. Marco Bizzari's day ended on lap 16 with a puncture on the front straight whilst running in the points. Dave Anderson did his best Jason impersonation on the back of McCracken, spinning his Gulf Racing Simpson car.

During the pitstop phase, Simon got past Hawkin in the effective battle for second and third but there were behind a whole bunch of people who were one stopping. One of those people was Rueckert who soon became the latest victim of the turn 1 pirouette after tapping the back of Shioya. The next lap saw two classy moves into turn 1 with Marchesi putting a classy move on Lamberigts and Jason doing the same thing on Hamilton for the third time that afternoon. Half a lap later and Sani Morgan's day was done when, yet again, his BMW powerplant blew up round the back of the circuit.

By lap 30, Macklin had made his way up to 7th after making several clincal move, the latest of which was on Lei in the sole remaining Trueba. A few laps later, Marie Simon had caught and passed Cara for the lead but she wasn't recorded as leading that lap as she was in the pits at the end of the lap for her second stop. The battle amongst the one stoppers continued with Marchesi put yet another top class move into turn 1, this time on Hamilton for 6th while just outside the top 10, the two Hydooks were going hammer and tong.

Macklin was back outside the points but took one step closer to them by passing Lamberigts for 9th. Meanwhile, Marchesi was still marching his way up the order, this time passing Michael Robertson for 4th. Macklin on the other had was making a meal out of his drive up the field when he shoved Shioya off the track for 8th place, demoting the Japanese driver all the way down to 11th place. On the next lap, Jason showed how a move into turn 1 should be done with a move on Catrina Lopes for 14th place.

The battle for the lower half of the points wasn't over yet when Hamilton tried a move on Robertson into turn 1 with 3 laps to go but instead spun himself around. A few hundred meters behind that, Macklin put a move on Micko Glotch for 7th which became 6th. Macklin however got stuck behind Robertson on the run up the hill with Glotch alongside him which meant the Dutchman got the position back at turn 2. Glotch was on a role as he got by Robertson at turn 3 but Robertson got back past the Aston heading into turn 1 on the penultimate lap.

While Jason may have been well out of points contention, he certainly wasn't giving up with a move on Rueckert for 13th place on the penultimate lap which very nearly became 12th on the final lap when he nearly tapped Shioya into a spin. Lopes took full advantage of the situation to get past Rueckert for 14th and the 4 of them crossed the line within a second of each other at the end of the race.

Nothing could stop Alberto Cara taking his first win in the F2RWRS however from Marie Simon and Terry Hawkin. Marchesi finished an excellent fourth from Robertson while Macklin nearly got Glotch for 6th at the line with Jason Hamilton scoring his first point in his first race in 8th.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap	Points
1	5	Alberto Cara	Beirão	1:14.983	--	1
2	4	Wouter Lamberigts	Gillet	1:15.038	+0.055
3	7	Mitchell Macklin	MRT	1:15.062	+0.079
4	20	Hansuke Shioya	KitKat	1:15.070	+0.087
5	8	Marie Simon	MRT	1:15.226	+0.243
6	3	Terry Hawkin	Gillet	1:14.282	+0.299
7	15	Johannes Rueckert	Hydook	1:15.434	+0.451
8	11	Rosco Vantini	Falik	1:15.445	+0.462
9	0	Tommy Nash	Young Lions	1:15.502	+0.519
10	19	Dave Anderson	Simpson	1:15.555	+0.572
11	9	Marco Bizzarri	Trueba	1:15.658	+0.675
12	2	Jason Hamilton	Young Lions	1:15.659	+0.676
13	16	Alessandro Marchesi	Aston Martin	1:15.721	+0.738
14	22	Niko Bellic	Rising Ashes	1:15.724	+0.741
15	6	Catarina Lopes	Beirão	1:15.822	+0.839
16	10	Du Lei	Trueba	1:15.928	+0.945
17	18	Michael Robertson	Simpson	1:16.053	+1.070
18	17	Micko Glotch	Aston Martin	1:16.076	+1.093
19	23	Tanner Jason	Rising Ashes	1:16.211	+1.228
20	14	Anton Bosevic	Hydook	1:16.453	+1.470
21	12	Sani Morgan	Falik	1:16.482	+1.499
22	21	Phil McCracken	KitKat	1:17.685	+2.702

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Alberto Cara	Beirão	47	1:00:50.956	1	10
2	8	Marie Simon	MRT	47	+17.664	5	8
3	3	Terry Hawkin	Gillet	47	+29.240	6	6
4	16	Alessandro Marchesi	Aston Martin	47	+39.027	13	5
5	18	Michael Robertson	Simpson	47	+53.996	17	4+1^
6	17	Micko Glotch	Aston Martin	47	+54.848	18	3
7	7	Mitchell Macklin	MRT	47	+54.928	3	2
8	2	Jason Hamilton	Young Lions	47	+58.980	12	1
9	14	Anton Bosevic	Hydook	47	+59.567	20
10	4	Wouter Lamberigts	Gillet	47	+1:00.999	2
11	10	Du Lei	Trueba	47	+1:01.774	16
12	20	Hansuke Shioya	KitKat	47	+1:11.112	4
13	6	Catarina Lopes	Beirão	47	+1:11.264	15
14	23	Tanner Jason	Rising Ashes	47	+1:11.409	19
15	15	Johannes Rueckert	Hydook	49	+1:12.082	7
16	0	Tommy Nash	Young Lions	47	+1:14.088	9
17	22	Niko Bellic	Rising Ashes	46	+1 lap	14
18	19	Dave Anderson	Simpson	46	+1 lap	10
19	21	Phil McCracken	KitKat	46	+1 lap	22
Ret	12	Sani Morgan	Falik	22	Engine	21
Ret	9	Marco Bizzarri	Trueba	16	Puncture	11
Ret	11	Rosco Vantini	Falik	4	Collision	8

^ Michael Robertson 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	41
2	Marie Simon	29
3	Alberto Cara	26
4	Alessandro Marchesi	16
=5	Tommy Nash	14
=5	Rosco Vantini	14

Constructors

Pos	Team	Pts
1	Virgin MRT	70
2	Beirao	26
3	Aston Martin	21
4	Young Lions	19
=5	Falik Arrows	15
=5	Gillet	15

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

Previous race: 2014 British Grand Prix	Formula 2 Rejects World Race Series Championship 2014 Season	Next race: 2014 German Grand Prix
Previous race: None	F2RWRS Austrian Grand Prix	Next race: 2015 Austrian Grand Prix