GPGSL S12 R14 Flevoland GP - Rubendrome, Emmeloord [Testers Q&R p.122 | Quali p.123 Race p.124!!!]

Welcome to Albert Park, Melbourne Australia.
Today begins the championship chase, for the Test Drivers. With several rookies, returning drivers to the GPGSL, series champions and an array of team owners, this season promises to be a true lottery!

Lights out to start the season for the Test Drivers...


The field roars towards the first turn...


And it is Tom Dilain who holds the lead as they exit the first corner for Season 12...


And the rest of the drivers behind seem to be on their best behaviour, no incidents...


All drivers very cautiously navigate Turn 1...


Half way through lap 1, Dilain leads, with Moinet and O'Brien close behind....


A bit closer racing back in the 5-10th place cars..


Too close to be racing deeper in the pack, with one Stoddart in the grass, and a McGregor facing backwards


Almost contact between the two MAC's...


No damage, but lost time for McGregor and Stoddart...


Lap 1 in the books, with the lead 10 cars line astern down the main straight at Albert Park...


After Lap 1, positions 1-8


Positions 9-16...


Positions 17-22...


Peters in the MMM Ferrari, holding off a snarling pack of challengers...


Sheppard lunges down the inside of Peters at Turn 1....


Peters now has action behind him, with MTP, Alpha and AMR drivers hunting him closely...


Trouble for rookie De Los Rios in the MAC, with his transmission giving up after just 2 laps...


Dilain continues on out front, posting the fastest lap so far...


O'Brien is in hot pursuit of Moinet just ahead of him...


De Boer in 4th...


Legge returns full time to the GPGSL in the reborn Christel team...


Jack Elleker chasing Legge...


Sheppard in the DMR sits in 7th...


Rookie James Peters having a great run, but wearing the dreaded Helmet of Shame...


Kederer in 10th right on the heels of John Maverick...


Stu Ingers in a lonely 11th in the early stages...


Gareth McCarthy also looking a bit lonely in 12th, with a clear track ahead...


Ed Greenhalgh in his new look Alpha...


Another returning driver to the series, Michael Soutsen...


Nata Cremasco in his new team MMM...



Another team boss, Chris Copeman in the Christel VXR machine...


Aiden Keranen in the Snake...


Rookie driver Arjuta Majumdar running in 19th....


Stoddart back in 20th after the earlier contact...


And McGregor book ending the field after 4 laps..


Back towards the front, Greenhalgh trying a move on Sheppard, froma loooong way back...


And he does it, but ALSO takes Elleker in the same move! Outstanding...


Majumdar us all over the back of another rookie, Nico Beggani...


Majumdar locks up though,sending Beggani to the gravel, as well as himself - both drivers lose time recovering....


Close pack racing in the midfield...


Dilain holds a comfortable 2 second lead over Moinet...


Sheppard is the first driver to make a regulation pit stop in S12 - quite early, so will be interesting to see how this pans out...


De Boer on the front straight as more front runners begin to pit...


Cremasco up to 8th during the pit cycles...


Peters on the inside of Elleker at turn 1, as some light rain is visible...


And Elleker is wide, and in the grass...


And he is pointing the wrong way...


And now dangerously in the middle of the track...


But he gets going again, with amazingly no contact or damage to any driver...



Time for the first ad break of Season 12....

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Race Director: Ernie B. Ecclescake

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GPGTV Youtube Channel

New season, same old story

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Retro Liveries on the SMD-ZG02![www.grandprixgames.org]
Retro Renders 2.0 on the SMD-ZG02LN![www.grandprixgames.org]

And Mistral received their first punt of the season.

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Welcome back to the 2nd half of today's Test drivers season opening Feature Race....

And straight away, our cameras have caught Eric Moinet in the Mistral, stopped out on track....


A transmission failure for the Mistral team boss...


Greg O'Brien is pushing the limits with his braking...


He pushes too hard...


He is off track, but re-joins with no damage, other than losing a few places...


Another team boss in trouble. This time it is Nathan McGregor, spinning off at Turn 1 in the greasy conditions as light drizzle falls...


He too rejoins without any damage...


A good chance to see our Top 8 running order after pit stops all completed...


And the positions 9-16...


Then positions 17-22...


Dilain holds that lead, with a 3 second gap now back to Maikel De Boer...



Rookie James Peters is doing a great job, sitting in 4th...


Demon team boss Glen Sheppard holds 5th spot, with 7 laps remaining...


Tobias Kederer in 6th, just a 1.5secs behind Sheppard...


O'Brien, despite his earlier off track excursion hangs onto 7th place...


Ed Greenhalgh is in 8th...


Nata Cremasco in his brand new teams Ferrari powered machine, runs in 9th...


Gareth McCarthy in 10th, hot on the heels of Cremasco...


Michael Soutsen in 11th, also hot on the heels of the man in front of him....


Chris Copeman at the wheel of his own teams entry, holds onto 12th place...


Stu Ingers in 13th...


Aiden Keranen in 14th


Series newcomer Nico Beggani in 15th...


Mal Stoddart after his earlier troubles, languishing in 16th...


John Maverick unhappily down in 17th...


An even unhappier Jack Elleker in 18th...


Aritra Majumdar in 19th after his earlier dramas...


And running last, Nathan McGregor having a race to forget...


Quite the procession of cars heading down the front straight...


McCarthy still in the mix to hunt down Cremasco, with the Eureka Tower skyscraper dominating the Melbourne skyline behind him...


Copeman sits in 12th, with opportunities to move up the field ahead of him, if he has the pace...


Cremasco heads into the final turns on the circuit, with eager drivers behind him...


That light rain just wont go away, making conditions on track a bit tricky...


Elleker has caught Maverick, and looks set to challenge for position...


The move is ON as they head towards Turn 1...


Elleker is through, as Maverick has to yield...


This gives Majumdar a chance to close up on the MTP boss...


Majumdar goes for it...


But it is Maverick with his years of experience that holds on...


5 laps remaining for our race leader Tom Dilain, who just seems to be having a leisurely drive around the Albert Park layout...


Positions 6-10 shown on graphic...


Positions 11-15 now shown....


Positions 16-20 on display...


And our two drivers already out of the race...


Aritra Majumdar has closed up on Maverick again...


Maverick forced to take a defensive line approaching the end of the long front straight...


But the MTP driver holds on...


And again, Majumdar is in position to challenge...


Maverick appears to be going slightly defensive...


But no, Maverick concedes defeat, locking his brakes as the Tyrant driver moves ahead into 18th!




Maikel De Boer is having a great run, holding down a solid 2nd place with a handful of laps remaining...


Race leader Dilain flies through the first few corners, with just 3 laps to go...


Kederer os close to Sheppard...




Elleker will be glad to get this race over and done with...


Our cameras quickly note the MTP of John Maverick getting out of shape as he enters the high speed chicane on the Golf Course sweeper...


THis could be BIG. A lot of speed, facing the wrong way...


A bit of good luck, as Maverick stops in the middle of the track...


McGregor slows to avoid the stricken MTP...


And with an uneventful run for Tom Dilain, the SCR driver rounds the final turn for the final time...


And Dilain WINS the Feature Race here in Melbourne, for Southern Cross Racing.


Maikel De Boer comes home in 2nd place...


Jake Legge in 3rd place...


James Peters in 4th spot...


Hometown legend Glen Sheppard in 5th place...


Tobi Kederer brings the Alpha home in 6th...


Greg O'Brien manages 7th in an eventful race for him...


Alpha team boss Ed Greenhalgh in 8th place...


Nata Cremasco brings home his MMM Ferrari in 9th,...


Gareth McCarthy a solid 10th place in his series return...


Michael Soutsen 11th in his return to GPGSL...


Chris Copeman brings home the Christel VXR with a 12th place finish, to round out the potential points finishers......


And with that, we wrap up our coverage for the Test Drivers here in Melbourne. Well done to Tom Dilain on a flawless drive, to take victory at Albert Park.
Next on the schedule, the main event! We will take a break of a day or two to allow drivers double dipping in both the Test and Race driver seats, to recover ahead of the Main Event.... Back in a day or two. Time for some commercials from the GPGSL sponsors....

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Race Director: Ernie B. Ecclescake

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GPGTV Youtube Channel

Official Results - Test Drivers Feature Race, Season 12 Melbourne.

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Race Director: Ernie B. Ecclescake

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GPGTV Youtube Channel

I threw away a potential podium finish with that mistake. Least I was able to still finish inside top 10. The pace in the car is good at least so that's a positive to take away from the Tester's Sessions. Now our focus switches to the race cars as we get set to help Warrington have a good chance at converting pole into a race win, and help De Bruyker climb his way up through the field to make it into the points by race end.

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Great to be back at the wheel. P11 is not a bad result, considering the terrible qualify perfomance a day before, yet I'm lacking the pace clearly. Anyway, I'm ecxited in anticipation of the main event - it looks very promising for the team.
Thumbs up on the coverage btw

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Bummer !

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Amazing! All the unlucky like last season comes to strike again....

Let's see how it goes in the main event. But not much optimistic after this...

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Good points for the team starting the season with points in the bag. Hope to achieve some more points for the team in the main race.

Pace was strong from Maikel as always, we'll have to follow that up in the main race.

I have a lot of overtaking to do and I hope that I finish at least in 7th place as the team boss to get some good points for Tyrant in the main event race ...

I will and have to put the pedal to the metal!



GPGSL-3: VTR Driver, S4~S11 (2nd, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3th, 4th, 3th, 2nd)(Constructorstitel S7 & S9)
GPGSL-4: ONE Racing Driver, S8~S11 // TYRANT Racing Driver, S12:1st, S13:13th, S14:1st, S15:13th //
WREXHAM Motorsports Racing Driver S16: ?

Great job by James at his debut race, and two cars inside the top 10, that show our guys that we have the pace to go well in the race, despite starting at the back of the grid

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Uh oh, hopefully we'll have more speed in the race

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used to be GPGSL's Nick Heidfeld

Not good after looking at the Test Drivers race, we definitely need an improvement.

Hopefully in the race it's our turn to show, and see where we at.

VERY pleased to jag a point or two after a couple of seasons away!! Hope I can sneak a few more over the course of the year

Interesting race although finishing towards the tail end...the battles were quite memorable

Kimi forever!

Glad to get both the Demon cars in the points with this first outing for the Test drivers championship. Sets a good base for the race drivers to aim for.

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GPGSL Team Owner Debut - Melbourne, Season 8 - present
GPGSL Test Debut - Hungary, Season 4. GPGSL Race Debut - Adelaide, Season 5.

Good to make some inroads through the field in the Testers race - hopefully that provides a blueprint for our drivers in the actual race!

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X (@ed24f1)

Ok, so I have the Testers all done re the coverage. On to the big main dance - just sifting through a selection of 400 pics, aiming to cut that into a far smaller package
Should have a part 1 posted in the next few hours.....

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GPGSL Team Owner Debut - Melbourne, Season 8 - present
GPGSL Test Debut - Hungary, Season 4. GPGSL Race Debut - Adelaide, Season 5.