The end of the SBMRL season is finally upon us with our final race to be held on the Valencia Street Circuit in Spain. The circuit is situated around the harbor and is highlighted by a lengthy swing bridge in the second sector. Valencia played host to Formula 1 for 5 years starting in 2008 before the league departed for good.
Drivers start on the relatively short front straight, which will be a tremendous change from our last race in Russia. Sochi had the longest run up to the first turn of any track to date. The first corner, Principal 1, is tantalizingly close to the starting line and is fairly forgiving. Drivers shouldn’t have to slow down too much to handle it, and those at the middle of the grid could take advantage of it to catch up with the front runners early on. Those who hit it right will have no trouble flying right on to the second corner, Veles E Vents. The distance between the two corners represents the only straight that can be fully realized in 4th gear. Veles E Vents is the shortest 2-stop corner drivers will have to navigate this season, so it should see a fair amount of bunching early on.
The straight leading to Malvarrosa is long enough that it will tempt an aggressive approach, and Malvarrosa is long enough that it could work. The problem is that Malvarrosa is also the most important turn to come out of at high speed, since it feeds into the track’s longest straight over the bridge. This straight ends with the Nazaret turn, which is another 2-stop and, like Malvarrosa, a fairly long one. Again, coming out at high speed for the following straight will be on the minds of drivers looking for an advantage.
The penultimate corner is Grao, an exceedingly long 3-stop corner that is the longest on the calendar this year. Drivers will have a number of options in terms of what line to take, and there will be some good overtaking opportunities here. A moderate length straight then leads to Principal 2, a sharp left hander that feeds back onto the starting grid.
The Valencia Street Circuit has the fewest number of designated corners with just 6 and boasts some very long multi-stop corners. The challenge here will be the length of the straights between them, as it’ll be extremely rare for anyone to get up enough speed to take one at full throttle. This should allow cars to pass each other regularly throughout the track, hopefully leading to a very exciting race.
Starting Grid
The starting grid was slated to be in order of team standings, with both cars from each team on their own row, but Ice suffers a 1-spot grid penalty for causing a crash last time out in Sochi, dropping him to 7th. The front row is populated by Scandinavian Blitz, with the Stig taking over pole position from Mater, who had started there each of the last 3 races.
- The Stig (SB)
- Captain Slow (SB)
- Mater (GT)
- Danger Wheel (GT)
- Nero (CO)
- Launch Bornado (RM)
- Ice (CO)*
- Jaap Snellrijder (RM)
Pit selection is in the reverse order of team standings as they are reflected quite well in the starting grid:
- Regency Motors
- Cobalt
- Green Team
- Scandinavian Blitz
Final Race Outlook
While Jaap has locked up the driver’s championship, second place in the standings is completely up for grabs. Launch and Ice have the best shot at it. The two are separated by just a single point in the standings, which makes Ice’s grid penalty that much more frustrating.
At the bottom of the list, the Stig is out of the running for a top 3 finish in the standings this year, while Captain Slow still has an outside shot at it. He could even finish as high as 2nd if he wins and the other contenders fall to the bottom of the pack. Scandinavian Blitz has a similarly slim, but still possible, shot at finishing 2nd in the team standings.
In the middle, only 4 points lie between Nero, Danger Wheel, and Mater. The hard charging Green Team is best situated to knock Cobalt out of the #2 position of the team standings, which they’ve held 5 of the 7 weeks this year, but they’ll have to perform well. One expects that Nero with DNF’s each of the past two races, will either be extremely careful or throw caution to the wind in search of redemption.