Brazil Recap

The January leg of the season took us to Brazil and Interlagos, a new track that the SBMRL hadn’t yet raced on, but one that promised some of the fastest racing to date.  With everyone eager to put the pedal to the floor, here’s how the grid lined up:

P1 – Nero (Lonny)
P2 – The Stig (Jason)
P3 – Captain Slow (Jason)
P4 – Ice (Lonny)
P5 – Mater (Ryan)
P6 – Danger Wheel (Ryan)
P7 – Jamonito del Verde (Geoff)
P8 – Launch Bornado (Frank)
P9 – Jaronimus Maximus (Geoff)
P10 – Jaap Snellrijder (Frank)

The race got off to a flying start for both the Stig and Mater, each of whom timed the lights perfectly.  The Stig took advantage of Nero’s inability to get his engine up to speed and was the first into the Senna ‘S’.  Captain Slow and Ice followed closely.  Behind them, those who started at the back of the grid used the long run up to turn one to get up to a higher entry speed.  That had almost the entirety of the rest of the field piling into the bend.  Danger Wheel bumped a bit with Nero, as Jaap played things safely, watching from the rear.

The long first straight

The long straight between turns 1 and 2 meant high speeds.  Ice and Captain Slow found their lines, leaving the Stig trailing.  Jaronimus strained his engine but didn’t lose position as a result.  The two leader’s suffered similar engine trouble on the approach to turn 3, Ferradura.  Launch Bornado and Mater both were perfect in this section, joining the leaders at the front.  In contrast, while Jaap was able to do some catching up through here, Jamonito found himself struggling to keep up.

Throughout the second sector, there was a lot of shifting in the relative positions.  Captain Slow who had been leading found himself falling back to 4th place, behind the Cobalt drivers and Mater.  The Stig went from hanging with the top three to running in 9th.

Jockeying at the end of lap 1

As the cars hit the final corner and plowed onto the long pit straight, Nero led Ice and Captain Slow by less than a car length.  Mater’s approach to that final corner left him wanting, allowing Jaap to pass him by.  Launch and the Stig bumped in their efforts to pass the suddenly slow Red Bull car, leaving the Stig with minor body damage, and Jaronimus was hot on their heels.

The three front runners dove for the pits and were soon followed by Jaap, Jaronimus, and the Stig.  Launch took a temporary race lead by skipping the pits entirely, but he couldn’t find the proper approach into turn one at that speed.  Mater was caught up by the two backmarkers, Danger Wheel and Jamonito.

Tightly packed in the Senna ‘S’

The entire field was tightly packed going into the second lap, but it was Nero who got the advantage.  He carried speed from the Senna “S” onto the long straight to turn 2, but his tyres paid the price.  As he was pulling away, the Scandinavian Blitz cars battled with Ice and Regency Motors while the cars from the other two teams did their best to keep up.

Nero’s engine suffered a hit into the third turn, forcing him to lose some speed there.  Behind him, the Stig couldn’t quite find his line in Turn 2 and had to slow as well.  In contrast, the yellow liveries of Jaap and Launch were smooth through the bend, with Ice just ahead of them.  The big move, however, was from Jamonito and Jaronimus.  Not only did they hit the second corner just right, but they sped past everyone and right on by in Ferradura.  This put them in spitting distance of Nero.

Osito on the move

As the leaders charged forward, the first casualty of the race was Captain Slow.  On his efforts to get past Red Bull and keep up with the middle pack, he hit debris left on the track earlier in the race. He lost a wheel and was forced to retire.

Danger Wheel and Mater pushed on and soon found themselves caught up with Jaap and the Stig.  At this point, Launch and Ice had pulled slightly ahead of that group and were doing their darnedest to keep up with Jamonito and Jaronimus. Instead, it would be the boys in green that made the next move.  With Nero nursing home some badly worn tyres, they managed to catch him in the final corner and then pass him on the pit straight.

Nero is caught!

Jaronimus charged home with his teammate close behind him.  Nero, on the other hand, was suddenly finding himself having to watch out for Launch in his mirrors.    Fighting to avoid losing out on a podium after having been so far ahead earlier in the lap, his Cobalt engine gave out and he was forced to pull off the track with the finish line in sight.  Launch cruised home uncontested.

The Stig crashes out

That left the other five cars still on the track all with a shot at 4th place.  Ice took the last corner first, but was slow through it.  Jaap found himself in a similar place.  Mater had speed and carried it through onto the straight.  The Stig attempted to do the same, but was unfortunately blocked off by the rest of the traffic already in the corner.  He carried a bit too much speed through the corner and clipped the back of Mater, sending him off the track.  Danger Wheel was close behind and narrowly missed crashing into him.

From there, it was simply a drag race to the finish.  Danger Wheel had the speed to scoot past his teammate, while Ice wasn’t quite up to the task of keeping pace.  With poor judgement through the final corner slowing him down, Jaap was the last to cross the line, but at least he could be thankful that he crossed it.

Final Results

Jaronimus’ victory is his second in the past three races and puts him solidly in front of Jaap at the top of the driver’s standings.  Jamonito’s runner up finish has him up to 3rd place and marks the third time in the last four races that he’s stood on the second podium step.  Launch rounds out the podium for the second time in three races as well.

At the other end of the grid, Jaap had his worst finish ever, after suffering a miserable second lap.  However, that isn’t nearly as troubling as the trio of Nero, the Stig, and Captain Slow.  All three failed to complete the race for the second consecutive race.

Also of note for this race was the amount of passing that took place.  Mater, who finished in 5th place, actually held every position, 1 to 10, at some point.  Launch and the Stig were nearly as diverse.  Both drivers held all positions except 10th.  Seven different drivers all held the lead, even if only briefly, and that includes all three of the cars that didn’t finish.

At the team level, Osito Racing Company recorded the SBMRL’s second 1-2 finish to take back the team standings lead.  Cobalt is the only other team to have taken the top two steps, accomplishing that at Sebring last year.  Unfortunately, their struggles this year leave them with about half the points of ORC, and Scandinavian Blitz is even further behind.

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