After 8 long months, the final race of the SBMRL season finally arrived with Valencia’s street circuit playing host. The weather was warm and dry with a few clouds, ideal for racing.
The Stig sat at the front of the grid for the second time this season. The only other time he started this high was in Monaco, where he went on to victory. Despite starting in 2nd on 3 other occasions, that win was the only time he’s finished higher than 5th. The grid behind him shaped up as follows:
P1 – The Stig (Jason)
P2 – Captain Slow (Jason)
P3 – Mater (Ryan)
P4 – Danger Wheel (Ryan)
P5 – Nero (Lonny)
P6 – Launch Bornado (Frank)
P7 – Ice (Lonny)*
P8 – Jaap Snellrijder (Frank)
A clean start saw the cars take off with one last shot at glory for the year. The Stig took an immediate liking to the first two corners, pulling out an early lead. Behind him, the others jockeyed for position, of which the most notable shift was Mater dropping all the way to 6th in the very first corner.
That early lead allowed the Stig to keep a bit of distance from the rest of the field, where those attempting to chase him down would spend most of the race spreading out along the straights and then bunching up again at each corner. Heading, for the first time, along the long straight over the harbor bridge, it looked as if any one of several cars might catch him, but the Stig was into Nazaret before Launch, Danger, Wheel, or Captain Slow could close that gap.
Behind that group, Mater and Ice would spend most of the first lap battling it out for 6th place, eagerly trying to join the challengers. Jaap, on the other hand, languished at the back, within striking distance but too far to really bother anyone.
The long and winding penultimate corner of Grao was where Nero managed to close the gap to the Stig enough to momentarily overtake him. The Stig had taken a conservative entry in hopes of leaving at speed, and that was the opening that Nero needed. What was more problematic, was that the Stig’s speed wasn’t enough to put him in position for Principal 2. This allowed Launch Bornado to catch up as well.
After the 3 front runners stopped for fresh tires, it was actually Launch who came out of the pits in first place. That would be a short lived moment, however, as Nero and the Stig both found their line through Principal 1, leaving Launch to deal with the charge from Danger Wheel. The Stig would be quickest through the Veles e Vents, leaving the other three to play catch up.
Meanwhile, Captain Slow had been joined by Mater and Jaap to form a second pack of challengers. Ice had experienced a nightmare of a third sector on the first lap to fall well off the pace.
The Stig’s second lap continued his strong form as he flew through Malvarossa. Danger Wheel and Nero battled for 2nd, while Launch fell back with the others, and the Stig extended his lead by speeding across the bridge with all he could muster. To describe all the positional changes behind the Stig that occurred on the bridge straight and into Nazaret is a fool’s errand, but here goes. Captain Slow had such little speed heading onto the straight that he found himself in 7th place, but was back up to 4th by the time he was in the corner. Launch had an identical position switch just at a slightly different time. Jaap found himself moving up out of 7th. Aside from the Stig’s certain lead, the only real concrete thing to come out of the second sector was the establishment of Cobalt’s cars. Nero emerged in a comfortable second place, and Ice was nowhere to be seen.
The third sector didn’t look like it would hold much drama at the front of the pack. The Stig was working his way through Grao while Nero was still trying to find his way there. Behind him, Jaap had improbably forced his way all the way up to join Danger Wheel and Captain Slow in the battle for third place. Mater trailed, and Launch had now fallen to 7th.
The Stig’s efforts to keep Nero behind him ultimately failed at the very last corner and at the worst of times. He was forced to take a much slower line around the outside of Principal 2 while Nero took to the inside. Nero flew across the finish line with his second win of the season.
While all this was going on, the battle for 3rd raged behind them. When Danger Wheel and Captain Slow had taken to Grao, they’d left Jaap with a hard choice. Charge forward with all he had or play it conservative and hope to catch up. Jaap choose the former, barreling through in such a fashion that he had to slam on the brakes and shift all the way down to second just to save himself. This left Captain Slow leading Danger Wheel down to Principal 2 while Launch and Mater began to catch up. Launch carried speed, and was able to hit the inside of the corner just right, passing everyone at the start of the pit straight.
Launch would shift up to take 3rd in dramatic fashion. Danger Wheel and Captain Slow, however, had been forced to downshift through the final corner. Despite their small advantage on Jaap, they weren’t able to take the straight at speed. Jaap, on the other hand, had been accelerating ever since coming out of Grao in 2nd gear, and the result was that he carried the speed needed for a sensational 4th place. As for 5th, Danger Wheel took the upper hand down the approach, but for the second time in as many races, Captain Slow was able to take advantage of his slipstream and pass him at the final moment.
All the way at the back, Ice had been closing in on Mater, and when Mater spun out at Principal 2, he forged ahead with an unexpected 7th place finish. Mater limped home in 8th.
Final Results
| Driver | Start | Lap | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nero (CO) | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| The Stig (SB) | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Launch Bornado (RM) | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| Jaap Snellrijder (RM) | 8 | 7 | 4 |
| Captain Slow (SB) | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| Danger Wheel (GT) | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| Ice (CO) | 7 | 8 | 7 |
| Mater (GT) | 3 | 6 | 8 |
We haven’t had a finer race this year, and it was the perfect way to end the season. Nero caught the Stig around the final bend. The middle pack stayed extremely close throughout both laps, allowing Launch Bornado to fly from 7th in Grao to 3rd across the line. Even Ice, who was way behind, managed to catch up and finish ahead of Mater.
In the end, Nero came back from a pair of consecutive DNF’s to win his second race of the year, the only driver other than Jaap to accomplish that feat. The win meant that he did all he could to finish 2nd in the driver’s championship. Unfortunately, Launch needed a 4th place or worse finish for Nero to catch up, and the 3rd place finish meant Regency Motors would finish 1-2 in the standings. Ice’s 7th place finish dropped him down to 4th in the standings.
In the battle between the Green Team and Scandinavian Blitz, the Stig’s 2nd place and Danger Wheel’s 6th mean a tie for 5th place overall. Think that Captain Slow’s slipstream at the end was important? Had he not been able to overtake Danger Wheel, the Green Team would’ve retained 3rd in the team standings. As it was, Captain Slow’s 5th place was enough to put the white cars 3 points ahead of green on the year.
