March 11 brings the SBMRL to Germany for a tour around the Hockenheimring. Originally built in 1932, the track was shortened in 2002 from 4.24 miles to the current configuration of 2.84 miles. It was a significant alteration that was not welcome by traditionalists but insisted upon by racing governance bodies demanding a more accessible course for fans. The new configuration of the course is what we’ll be running.
Gone are the exceptionally long straights through German forest punctuated by chicanes. Instead, the new track features hairpins and other slow corners which could result in more opportunities to catch the race leaders than we saw in Sebring due to lower overall speeds.
The first sector of this relatively short track opens with Nord Kurve, which despite a generous angle, will require drivers to navigate carefully. There is a clear advantage to the cars at the start of the grid and a fast start from pole position could even see a car jump straight to it. The cars at the back of the grid will be right up against the final turn of the track, a long way to go.
A short straight, albeit third longest of the course, leads to Bernie Ecclestone Kurve. This corner will likely be the most frustrating simply because it prevents cars from gaining any sort of real speed before heading into Sector 2 and the longest straight on the track.
The long straight to the Spitzkehre hairpin will see the highest speeds on the track, but also the most braking at the end. Spitzkehre is unforgiving and could see a fair amount of passing coming out of it, depending on who is able to maintain the most speed. It feeds into the second longest straight on the track, but even that isn’t particularly long. This isn’t Sebring by any means. The sector wraps up with the Mercedes Arena corner, which is another challenging effort that’ll slow the field down for sector 3.
The third sector has the least amount of straight track and will be deceptively fast. It opens with Mobil 1 Kurve which, given the slower entry into it, may not be as challenging as it could be. The Sachs Kurve is more a U than a hairpin, and shouldn’t slow anyone down too much. Finally, Sud Kurve is almost identical to Sebring’s Sunset Bend in execution but not in approach. The low speed approach should mean that cars have very little trouble with it heading on to the front straight.
After the extreme frustration for most cars in Sebring, will we see a change of tactics for Hockenheim? We are unlikely to see any car push their engine to the limits in 6th gear, rather, careful maximizing of time in the lower gears will be key.
Starting Grid
A disappointing showing in Florida leaves the Green Team locked in on the front row. Mater will be the first driver to start multiple races in pole position. Scandinavian Blitz, the only team to win multiple races this year takes row two to themselves. Their Sebring performance was their worst since the opening race in Austin. They can take comfort in knowing that they’ve performed well when starting higher up. The back of the pack is familiar. Nero took full advantage of starting in 3rd place in Sebring due to the tie breaker format and now finds himself starting in the familiar 7th slot. He’s been there 3 times now. Jaap starts his 5th consecutive race from the back of the pack amidst his smallest standings lead of the year.
- Mater (GT)
- Danger Wheel (GT)
- Captain Slow (SB)
- The Stig (SB)
- Ice (CO)
- Launch Bornado (RM)
- Nero (CO)
- Jaap Snellrijder (RM)
Pit selection is simply the reverse order of average start position, which is easy enough to figure this time around:
- Regency Motors
- Cobalt
- Scandinavian Blitz
- Green Team
