![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.rhinopeel.com\/sbmrl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_2043.jpg\")
<\/a>Nero takes to the inside in Adelaide<\/p><\/div>\n
The second sector first saw the Stig, then Launch, take the lead as the battles at the front continued to go back and forth. \u00a0Captain Slow kept up as best possible, but Nero started to fade. \u00a0That allowed Jaap and Jaronimus to reel him in. \u00a0Jaap then found speed to burn through the straight leading to Imola and was among the front runners in short order.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Launch in the lead<\/p><\/div>\n
Sector three didn’t see a lot of movement in position other than Jamonito beginning to sneak up on the midfield. \u00a0When they came round to the pits, Captain Slow was first across the line, skipping out on a stop due to a clean first lap. \u00a0Launch had nursed his tyres well but found an adjustment to his abused gear box was in order. \u00a0That gave Jaap the chance to complete lap 1 in second place as he barreled on. \u00a0Ice was the third and final driver to skip his pit stop, gaining several places after having fallen all the way to last coming around the final bend.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Ice charges past the pits<\/p><\/div>\n
The second lap saw Captain Slow leading the pair of yellow Regency Motors cars down the long Golf straight. \u00a0Ice’s gambit allowed him to slide into 4th position. \u00a0Launch Bornado was the driver who handled the Adelaide corner the smoothest, and he was first in, first out, but without good speed heading into Nurburgring. \u00a0That allowed Captain Slow to gain on him. \u00a0In contrast, Jaap’s inability to emulate his teammate left him battling with Ice and a charging Jamonito. \u00a0The rest of the field followed closely, with the lone exception of Danger Wheel, whose opening of the second lap left a lot to be desired.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The midfield converges after the Golf straight<\/p><\/div>\n
Skipping back to the midfield runners, who looked to be well behind\u00a0Captain Slow at this stage, things began to shift over the course of\u00a0the second sector. \u00a0The most obvious and shocking event of the race was seeing standings leader Jaap Snellrijder pull off to the side of the 180 corner after his engine gave out.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Jaap’s engine gives out<\/p><\/div>\n
What was far less obvious as it was occurring were the rise of Mater and Jamonito. \u00a0Jamonito had caught up with Ice and Jaap in the Adelaide corner, and kept up with them both until Jaap’s engine demise. \u00a0He was subsequently\u00a0able to catch Captain Slow in Imola.<\/p>\n
Mater, on the other hand, was bottom 3 until an inspired 2nd sector charge. \u00a0He found speed aplenty in Imola, reeling in Ice a short while later. \u00a0While Launch cruised to his first victory, Captain Slow saw both Jamonito and Mater pass him by around the final bends.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The battle for 2nd comes down to the wire<\/p><\/div>\n
Nero managed to pip Ice\u00a0for 5th place as they crossed the line, and the Cobalt teammates finished one after the other for the 4th time this year. \u00a0The Stig’s 7th place finish was extremely disappointing after an extremely promising first lap. \u00a0Jaronimus finished just ahead of Danger Wheel to round out the field.<\/p>\n
Final Results<\/h3>\n
| Driver<\/th>\n | Start<\/th>\n | Lap<\/th>\n | Finish<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch Bornado (RM)<\/td>\n | 5<\/td>\n | 3<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Jamonito del Verde (ORC)<\/td>\n | 7<\/td>\n | 5<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mater (RB)<\/td>\n | 3<\/td>\n | 10<\/td>\n | 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Captain Slow (SB)<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Nero (CO)<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n | 7<\/td>\n | 5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Ice\u00a0(CO)<\/td>\n | 5<\/td>\n | 6<\/td>\n | 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| The Stig (SB)<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n | 7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Jaronimus Maximus (ORC)<\/td>\n | 9<\/td>\n | 8<\/td>\n | 8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Danger Wheel\u00a0(RB)<\/td>\n | 8<\/td>\n | 9<\/td>\n | 9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Jaap Snellrijder (RM)<\/td>\n | 10<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n | 10, dnf<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n There were a lot of interesting things about the race in France, but the first two are obviously the diametrically opposite fates of the Regency Motors drivers. \u00a0Launch Bornado finally wins a race in his 16th attempt. \u00a0Despite a fair amount of success, he was the only driver from the inaugural season who had yet to tally a win. \u00a0That leaves Jamonito as the only active driver without a win. \u00a0Jamonito’s 2nd place is the 4th time this year that he’s been the bridesmaid, so he has certainly had his share of success. \u00a0Mater rounded out the podium in 3rd place. \u00a0After his victory in Austin earlier this season, it marks his second podium of the year and the first time he’s ever finished in 3rd place.<\/p>\n At the opposite end of the spectrum, Jaap’s failure to see the checkered flag marks the first time he’s suffered such a fate. \u00a0Given that he was as high as 2nd place during the race, that’s a tough pill to swallow. \u00a0For race fans, though, it’s a great boon. \u00a0The driver standings are now about as tight as they can get heading into the final race of the season. \u00a0Jaap holds a 2 point lead over Launch and Jaronimus, who are tied. \u00a0Jamonito is within 10 points of the lead trio.<\/p>\n A final note of trivia\u00a0comes from the fact that for the first time in SBMRL history, the top 5 cars came from 5 different teams. \u00a0Jaronimus finishing ahead of Danger Wheel was the only thing preventing the bottom half from being a mirror image of the top.<\/p>\n On the team level, Regency Motors extended their lead over Osito Racing Company but only slightly. \u00a0The team title will come down to those two teams, as Red Bull is just a few points too far back to take the crown. \u00a0They can, however, steal second place away from Osito if things work out just right. \u00a0The bottom two teams scored the exact same number of points as each other.<\/p>\n With Jaap’s win in Sochi, Regency Motors have back-to-back wins for the first time. \u00a0The only other team to have accomplished that is Cobalt, who’ve done it twice. \u00a0Nero and Ice won at Sebring and Hockenheim last year, then had season-spanning back-to-back victories with Valencia and Spa-Francorchamps. \u00a0There was only one race between those pairs of wins, meaning that Nero and Ice won 4 out of 5 in that stretch.<\/p>\n Race Gallery<\/h3>\n\n\t\t |