Italian Grand Prix - Season FinaleSo here we are, the last race of the second season of the W300! Could we really have a more exciting
race in store? The surprise pole sitter is Kyran Brazier for GP Racing who commanded the qualifying
session goign more than three tenths quicker than Rayman and Merway in second and third respectively.
Andrew Butler in fourth had a brilliant qualifying session for VDV ahead of Bobby Neil in fifth and
Robert Mews who lines up sixth in the Scolari. Bolscher start seventh ahead of an astonishing eighth
for Kittleson, Wood ninth and Bernie Bolt rounds out the top ten.
Now there are three major constructor's battles to be tied up here. Scolari must defend their second
place from the super quick Senninha and a distant Shadow Subaru, GP Racing have started well to take
fifth place off of SCR Holden and Fortuna Rayco could snatch 8th from Willins Renault.
Now lets go down to the grid for the start of the race!
We have five lights on, when they go out we shall be racing in Italy...
Brazier and Merway have made very good starts from the right hand side of the grid! Rayman is being
forced back down the field.
They all funnel their way into turn one but rayman's looking back up the inside! This will be tight
Bernie Bolt has gained a place at the start over Wood as they exit the chicane
Under the trees and the fiend emerge at the second chicane already. Bobby neil throws a very late
move at the inside of Butler and manages to make it stick!
And so Brazier leads from Merway, Rayman and Neil, these four may start to break away from the rest
of the pack as Butler appears to be struggling.
Butler runs wide! Both Mews and Bolscher are looking to try and take advantage.
But Butler amazingly hangs on around the outside to keep fifth place!
Bolscher gets a run out of the corner however and makes the move on Mews to take 6th.
Further back Briere in his first W300 race is fighting hard with Fuh after both had a poor
qualifying session, he goes up the inside
But Briere runs wide and they touch and Fuh is launched!
McClain runs in to the gravel trying to avoid the accident ahead
The Scolari lands with only a broken front wing
But as Briere spins into McClain's path they collide!
Briere is forced to retire with only three wheels left on his car, whilst McClain must pit for a
new wing.
The biggest gainer on lap one was Gareth Chester in the Fortuna Rayco he made up five places, taking
advantage of that early crash. The biggest loser was Willins' Mikey McClain who lost eight places
and will be a long way off the field having to make an extra pit stop.
Mews gets back passed Bolscher as they break heavily into turn one
Greidanus gets right up behind Bolt as he tries to defend from Kittleson attacking round the outside But the Fortuna gets the place
McClain makes it back to the pits as has Andrew Fuh
Merway and Rayman are beginning to put some pressure on Brazier now as they start to drop Neil in
fourth
Brazier can't stop the Senninha from forcing his way through! Merway now leads
Rayman tries to have a go into the final bend but thinks better of it. Will that allow Merway to
get away in the lead?
Down the main straight however, Rayman used the GPR's slipstream to get easily passed and he
immediately begins to pursuit Merway.
Wood is screaming passed Bolt, the SCR has lost a couple of places in the last lap with Greidanus
also getting through
Next through is John Warrington! He takes 11th, such is the nature of this track that once one
car passes you, others can force their way passed too.
Rayman is clinging on to the back of Merway at the front. Both have the same engine power remember
and so this battle is purely about driver skill!
Greidanus gets a run on Kittleson and breezes passed with the Fortuna unable to compete on straight
line speed
Bolscher is back ahead of Mews once more! It seems they're too interested in fighting each other
to have a go at Butler.
Warrington in the second VDV makes his move on Will Wood to take 10th
Mike Seymour is racing hard at the back, he passes Grant as she runs wide
Grant in the KBR fights back down the straight however to reclaim her place
Bolt's race is falling apart as he runs wide at the chicane!
He rejoins in 19th place
Grant is struggling despite having the Ferrari engine at home she runs wide again allowing Seymour
to sneak back through
Fapitalle puts a move on Chester as they hurtle down the straight to take back 12th
Grant isn't letting that place go! She once again passes Seymour down the home straight to take
back 16th
As the pit stops open race leader Merway reveals why he had such a strong pace, he was light on
fuel! John Warrington and Francisco Fapitalle also pit on lap five.
Merway rejoins in 14th ahead of the fierce battle now going on between the two Devil Fox Juniors
Josh Rayman now leads, but how much more fuel does he have and can he jump Merway?
The answer to the first of those questions is not much! Rayman pits along with Will Wood and
Mike Seymour
Rayman emerges from the pits and he's done it! That extra lap of fuel puts him ahead of Merway.
And so it turns out Brazier was heavier than his two rivals, can he bring himself back into
contetntion here?
Fuh passes rival Wood but after that accident at the start he'll still have to make his fuelled
pit stop whereas Wood will not.
Butler pits from 3rd along with Greidanus, Buijs and Fuh
Warrington lost out to Wood in the stops but he's fighting back now and repasses the Shadow Subaru.
Bobby Neil is passed by Bolscher for second place though both still have to pit
And in comes Neil, how close will he be to Rayman and Merway?
He emerges in tenth and in traffic but he is still within eye distance of the two supposed leaders
Barrington retires from the race after spinning into the wall, looks like he may have had a
suspension failure
In to the pits comes race leaders Kyran Brazier and Byron van het Bolscher
Brazier comes back out ahead of Rayman and Merway! He'll retake the lead! Bolscher however comes out
right with team mate Rayman.
On cold tyres the dutchman couldn't keep Rayman behind going into the chicane however.
Warrington runs wide!
He loses two places and drops to fifteenth as Wood and Fapitalle squeeze back through
Merway is still chasing after that race win, he quickly gets passed Bolscher so that he stays close
to the back of Rayman
Mews is currently our race leader...
...ahead of the two Fortuna Raycos in second and third though all have yet to make their stops
In comes Mews however, can he get himself into the fight fo the lead? Kittleson, Bolt, Stoffels AND
McClain also pit
Bolt actaully managed to get ahead of Bolscher prior to his pit stop, the Orange car obviously
doesn't like those new tyres.
It really doesnt! He runs wide!!
He spins onto the circuit and collects Greidanus! In their last race together in the W300 these two
dutch drivers have managed to come together yet again!
That knocks Greidanus out of the race and out of what was a sure top ten finish! Bolscher will have
to do a whole lap without a front wing before he can pit
Mews emerges from the pits just ahead of Bobby Neil whom he was a long way behind before those stops.
Kittleson comes out of pits in 7th place! What a great strategy by Fortuna to put their drivers
heavy on fuel and Chester is still to stop!
Chester pits from the lead and he makes the last scheduled stop of the race. Bolscher also pits for
a new nose.
Brazier therefore comes through to retake the race lead, he's running a strategic race but can
Rayman catch him?
Neil makes his move on Mews to take fourth
Chester, like his team mate, comes out right ahead of Butler in the VDV, that puts them in sixth
and 7th!
Meanwhile the other VDV of John Warrington forces his way into the top ten by passing Fapitalle
The battle for fourth is raging as Mews repasses Bobby Neil, Subaru and Scolari have been fighting
all season and it doesn't look like anything's changed here.
Chester can't maintain his position and has to yield to the faster VDV of Butler
That's a GP Racing driver in the gravel... That must be Brazier the race leader!!
Oh no! Brazier has crashed out from the lead and shall have to retire! He must feel he is jinxed,
whenever he gets a sniff of success it all falls apart. With both acrs out of the race, GP racing
will not be able to take fifth place in the championship away from SCR Holden then, what an end to
a difficult season for the team
Rayman must be so excited to see the GPR in the wall! He comes round to take the lead of this race
Gareth chester is ot giving up on that sixth place! He repasses Butler!
The VDV uses its superior straight line speed to get back passed down the straight however.
That's the VDV in the wall! Butler has made the same mistake as Brazier as throws away that sixth
place!
He manages to rejoin down the field but he'll be all but last once he's pitted for a new rear wing
Grant and Bolt are battling near the back as they pass the recovering VDV.
And Bolt, recovering from running wide earlier, passes Grant too. The KBR driver shall be running
that SCR team next season and I'm sure she hopes it can be fighting for more than 11th.
Gareth Chester is now passed by Will Wood, the Subaru making light work of the Fortuna on the last
lap of the race
However Season 2 of the World 300 series is won by the man who has snatched the world championship
away from Turnbull, Josh Rayman WINS in the Team Orange car!
Warrington pushes hard to pass Chester for 7th over the line but he has to settle for 8th
The race was won by Rayman, unfortunately we were denied the fight between himself and Brazier but
I'm sure GP Racing have put themselves in a position to fight back next season. Merway takes second
for Senninha, will that be good enough to get ahead of Scolari in the Constructor's? Mews takes
the final podium place for the Ferrari powered team ahead of Neil in the Shadow Subaru.
What a race and interestingly it was Adam Merway who takes the honours of having the fastest lap,
I'm sure he'll use that to spur him on and help him challenge for the world title next season.
The final championship standings shall be posted shortly...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2007 09:43PM by brunoboi.