2016-17 Season In Review

The second season of the SBMRL promised a whole new series of challenges and thrills.  New tracks and a field expanded to 5 teams meant a dip into the unknown and uncharted.  There were ups, downs, spectacular crashes, runaway victors, and otherwise all sorts of mayhem.

The season opened in Belgium on the famed circuit of Spa-Francorchamps.  Team liveries were all new for the season, and all eyes were on the green cars of newcomers Osito Racing Company (last year’s Green Team had been rebranded as Red Bull).  Osito appeared overmatched as their cars either crashed or finished last among those who completed the race, leaving the team in last place.  Ice and Jaap carried over strong trends from last year with a 1st and 2nd place finish, respectively.  Mater crashing while in the lead at the start of the second lap was perhaps the most notable moment of the race.

Starting Grid at Spa

A trip to Austin gave Mater the redemption he sought.  He started on pole and led most of the race, never falling lower than 3rd.  The other big story was the performance of Osito.  The team learned their lessons in Belgium and come home with both podium spots behind Mater.  Jamonito took 2nd and Jaronimus 3rd.  Jaap’s 5th place finish was his lowest ever, but a sign of things to come for last year’s champion.

The Malaysian circuit of Sepang was next up on the calendar and the second of five new tracks for the SBMRL.  Sepang produced the most dominating performance the SBMRL has seen throughout the first two seasons, with Jaronimus jumping from 5th on the grid to leading the field by the end of the first sector.  He would not be challenged again, and the real battle was for 2nd place.  Jaap was all set to take that position, but spun out in the final corner.  By the time he crossed the finish line, four cars had passed him, with The Stig leading the way.

Jaronimus finishes well ahead of the field

December was a return to the fame and glory of Monaco.  Jaap wrestled his car into contention on the first lap, then battled Jamonito down to the wire to take the win.  Jamonito was followed by Danger Wheel to round out the podium.  Aside from Jaap’s victory after starting 9th on the grid, the most notable incident from the race was a double DNF for Scandinavian Blitz, whose drivers both saw their race end in the 3rd sector of the second lap, just moments apart.

The next race was held at the high speed circuit of Interlagos in Brazil.  The race was highly anticipated due to the extremely long straights that would allow the cars to fully air out their engines.  There were a lot of different strategies employed, and the end result was a highly dramatic race.  An unprecedented seven different cars held the lead at some point during the contest, with Launch Bornado moving from 8th place all the way to first after a lap.  However, it was a couple of cars who lapped in 7th and 9th place that took the top two podium spots.  Jaronimus and Jamonito came all the way back from those lowly positions to give Osito their first 1-2 finish.  The top four finishers all came from the bottom half of the grid, aided by the fact that the top three grid positions failed to complete the race.  That meant second consecutive DNF’s for Nero and both Scandinavian Blitz drivers.

Speeding down the Reta Oposta straight

At this point in the year, with 5 of 9 races completed, the team standings were starting to take shape.  Osito’s strong performance in Brazil allowed them to take the lead from Regency Motors, with Red Bull a ways behind and Cobalt and Scandinavian Blitz looking mediocre at best.

On the driver front, Jaronimus’ victory gave him the edge over Jaap, whose strong showing at Spa and Monaco were enough to keep him in second.  Behind them their teammates battled for 3rd place with both Red Bull drivers in the hunt.

Round 6 of the 2016-17 season saw the league return to Germany, but instead of racing Hockenheim, as we had a year ago, this year the Nurburgring played host.  In desperate need of points, the Stig, Captain Slow, and Nero dominated the affair.  The trio finished in the order mentioned after all started in the top 3; no one really challenged them.  In fact, Ice was was the only other driver to even run in the top 3, although he fell to 9th at the flag.  Aside from Jaronimus, who climbed from 10th to 4th, the rest of the field finished close to where they started.

Fighting for position early in Germany

The SBMRL field headed east from Germany to Sochi, Russia, for our March race.  There is clearly something about the circuit in Sochi that just seems to click for Jaap, as he won there last season and won again this year.  This time he started in 9th place and was at the front of the pack by the end of the first lap.  The only point at which he even lost track position was briefly near the start of the race.  The Cobalt team, who had struggled most of the year after a superb inaugural season, finished in 2nd and 3rd place, with Ice edging out Nero.  Danger Wheel had the other large gain, finishing 4th after starting in 7th.  Captain Slow and the Stig struggled despite starting on the second row.  Jaronimus’ struggles allowed Jaap to erase an 18 point driver’s championship deficit.

Like Interlagos, the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours promised high speeds down some exceedingly long straights.  With just two races to go and a large gap between Jaap and Jaronimus and the rest of the field, the driver’s championship looked like it would come down to those two.  France had other ideas.  Launch Bornado, who was the only driver from the inaugural season yet to win a race, eked out a narrow victory over Jamonito and Mater.  Jaap suffered the first DNF of his career to wind up in last place, while Jaronimus could only muster 8th.  Jaap had been as high as 2nd and Mater’s charge came all the way from 10th after a lap.

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear with the high speeds of Magny-Cours

That left the final race as a decider between the four cars of Regency Motors and Osito Racing Company.  Only 9 points separated 1st to 4th, with Launch and Jaronimus just 2 back of Jaap.  As with a year ago, the season ending race would be held in Valencia, Spain, where we had seen an incredibly close race the previous time out.  This time, however, things would be different.  After some extremely tight racing early on, Nero found himself out of the race.  Jaronimus would follow a short while later.  The field began to spread out and the beneficiary of all of this proved to be Launch, who would become the first driver to win back-to-back races. Danger Wheel turned in a superb run to finish in 2nd place, his best result of the year.  Jamonito also performed well, rising from 7th at the start to 3rd at the checkered flag.  Jaronimus wasn’t the only contender to watch the end of the race from the pits, as Jaap crashed out on the second lap.

Final Standings

The driver’s championship looked like a two horse race heading into the final two races, but Launch and Jamonito not only had other ideas they completely flipped the script.  Launch was one of just two drivers to complete every race, finishing lower than 6th just once and having a dream end to the season with consecutive wins, becoming the 2016-17 drivers champion.

Jamonito was overshadowed in the discussion of Osito Racing Company for most of the season, but consecutive podium finishes and four 2nd place finishes overall fittingly gave him 2nd place in the championship.  He lead the league with 5 podiums on the year.  Third place came down to the end of season mishaps favoring Jaap over Jaronimus, with both drivers winning twice on the year.

Danger Wheel’s run at 3rd place in the standings was derailed with a poor showing in France, but he finished comfortably in 5th place.  Mater followed in 6th.  At the tail end of the standings, Nero’s early exit in Valencia doomed him to finish last.  Ice and the Stig actually tied for 7th, leaving Captain Slow alone in 9th place.

From a team stand point, there was a tight battle for 1st and a tight battle for 4th, leaving Red Bull to meander along in 3rd place for most of the year.  Osito Racing Company certainly acquitted themselves well after a difficult first race, but it was Regency Motors who took home the title in the end.  Scandinavian Blitz was able to get past Cobalt, who struggled from ownership problems for most of the year after a superb season a year ago.

Fun Facts

  • Magny-Cours saw the first and only race in which 5 different teams took the top 5 positions in the race.
  • Danger Wheel is the only driver to have finished every race he started in, including all of last year.
  • The season ending race in Valencia was the first time 4 cars failed to complete a race.
  • After having 6 DNF’s in the 2015-16 season, there were 16 this year, categorized as follows:
    • 6 collisions (5 last year)
    • 4 broken suspensions
    • 3 tire failures (1 last year)
    • 2 engine failures
    • 1 brake failure
  • Jaronimus’ 1st-5th-1st run at Malaysia/Monaco/Interlagos was the highest scoring 3-race stretch of the year, worth 60 of his 99 total points.
  • Jaronimus’ 9th-8th-9th run in the final three races was the lowest scoring 3-race stretch of the year, worth just 8 points total.

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