Okay, now that I have the spreadsheet for the GPGCL done (Paolo, if you want to claim credit for the name, go on right ahead - brilliant idea), I can now inform everyone how things are so far. Given the competition rules, we have our finalists and the bronze medalist.
But first, I take us back to Race 1. As the two new teams in the competition (and subsequently the two lowest placed sides in the competition),
MAC Racing and
Christel VXR had a one race shootout to decide who would be the last team in Group B.
As we all know, the Christel lads had a strong debut - whilst MAC Racing went home with nothing: MAC Racing
0 - 8 Christel VXR.
Christel VXR joined the other 9 teams in the Group Stages of the GPGCL.
In line with the Constructors Championship of Season 5, the Groups were as follows:
Group A: Aston Martin, Southern Cross, True North, VanSmirren and Snake Motorsports.
Group B: Shadow Subaru, Martini Paddock, ART, Tafuro and play-off winners Christel VXR.
Group AAston Martin: Despite some woeful points totals (6 of their 10 results between Races 2 and 11 were less than 10 points) and an unlucky occasion where they had a bye during their best scoring round of the 10 races, the S5 constructors champions secured top spot with a perfect record (even though they were run extremely close by Snake Motorsports in Race 8 and won by a single point) -
92 points scored in their 8 games, whilst only conceding
23.
Southern Cross: Many claimed Southern Cross were in the worst form of their life during the opening stages of the season - and it certainly showed. An opening 10 point win over Snake in Race 2 and a solitary point victory over True North were the highlights of a woeful group stage for the Australian outfit. With two matches left, and following a run of 4 straight defeats, it was very possible that SCR could've been dumped out at the Group Stages. However, a 17 point win over VanSmirren secured their place in the Quarter Finals - and despite losing to Aston Martin in the last game, the bronze medalists in Season 5 finished 3rd in the Group, scoring
40 and conceding
42.
True North: True North had to work hard to secure 2nd place in the Group - a 6 point win over VanSmirren in the opening round was followed by a narrow 1 point defeat to Southern Cross. An easy 18 point win over Snake in their third match seemed to give confidence to the British team - but then fell flat against GPGSL champions Aston Martin, losing by 14 points. However, they did secure the first point against the champions - who up to that point had kept clean sheets in their first few games. They completed the double over VanSmirren in a 17 point win, before barely defeating Southern Cross by 2 points (in a game that finished 2-0 to the British constructor). Two defeats to Snake and Aston Martin in their final games did little to change the mood - True North were 2nd, having scored
60 and conceded
52.
VanSmirren: An overall disappointing campaign for the Dutch team. A 7 point win over Southern Cross and a dead rubber 9 point win over Snake Motorsports were the only wins in a dreadful set of games.
50 points scored,
88 points conceded - and VanSmirren were heading home.
Snake Motorsports: Hardly anyone expected Snake to make the Quarter Finals. However, they managed just that, finishing 4th in the Group only on Points Difference - despite losing the first three of their eight games. A 4 point win over VanSmirren began the fightback, which was quickly followed by a 3 point win over Southern Cross. A narrow 1 point defeat to Group winners Aston Martin did little to dampen spirits, as they secured a just as narrow victory over True North to secure their place in the Quarter Finals - but were only truly safe after Southern Cross beat VanSmirren. A 9 point dead rubber defeat ended their group stage, having scored
28 and conceded
65.
Group BShadow Subaru: If the Shadow Subaru team had been expecting an easy ride in the Group, they were mistaken - however, they did manage to win 5 of their 8 games to secure 2nd place in the Group. On the other hand, they suffered the embarrassment of losing to Tafuro GP not once, but twice. With
108 points scored and
71 conceded, it seemed as though the S5 GPGSL silver medalists were to have a simple route to the final.
Martini Paddock: Like Shadow Subaru, Martini Paddock suffered two embarrassing defeats against Tafuro GP (with the other defeat coming against Shadow Subaru). Just like their dark blue and yellow rivals also, they secured 5 wins out of 8 - and only goal difference separated the two sides, as Dan Paddock's team finished 3rd - having scored
93 and conceded
64.
ART: Given their mid-table standing in S5, 3rd place seemed to be the target for the Dutch side. However, like Southern Cross and Snake in Group A, ART tasted victory just 3 times - with two of those victories (a 15 point win and a 4 point win respectively) coming against bottom side Christel VXR in Races 4 and 9. A surprise 5 point win over Group B surprise package Tafuro was seen in Race 7 - which saw ART finish below expectations in 4th, with
82 points scored and
86 conceded.
Tafuro GP: Tafuro had a knack for low scoring games during the group stages - though it didn't seem to faze anyone within the Italian team.
50 points scored and
42 conceded didn't look like much. However, after completing remarkable doubles over Shadow Subaru and Martini Paddock, Tafuro were well on their way to securing a surprise top spot in the Group - and 6 wins out of 8 was enough to give the Italian side just that. On the other hand, Tafuro drew a blank in their last game of the group stages and suffered the ignominy of being the only side in the Group to lose to Christel VXR.
Christel VXR: The luster of the Group Stages was definitely too much for Christel VXR - 7 straight defeats (including a crushing 21 point defeat against Martini Paddock on the opening day) ended their challenge long before it had even begun. However, the GPGSL rookies had something to cheer about in their dead rubber at the end of the group stages, as they secured their only win (by 9 points) against Group B winners Tafuro GP.
42 scored,
112 conceded, and the rookies were going home.
FinalsUnlike other cup competitions, the GPGCL organisers elected not to do a Quarter Final draw - and instead ensured that the Group Winner of each Group would play the 4th placed team, and the Runner Up would play the 3rd placed team.
As such, the Quarter Finals looked like this:
Aston Martin v.
ARTTrue North v.
Martini PaddockSouthern Cross v.
Shadow SubaruSnake Motorsports v.
Tafuro GPAston Martin v. ARTBy the time the Quarter Final races came around, Aston Martin were on an extremely strong run of form thanks to their 8 game winning streak - and, unsurprisingly, ART had no answer. The Aston Martin team had kicked it up a gear, completely obliterating the Dutch team in both legs of their Quarter Final tie. A 27-7 first leg victory, coupled with a 23-9 win in the return, saw
Aston Martin make the Semi Finals, winning
50-16 on aggregate.
True North v. Martini PaddockMartini Paddock, seen as the favorite in this tie, paid dearly for a poor first leg. They drew a blank in a stunning 20-0 defeat against True North Racing. With 28 points being the maximum for a team in any race (A 1-2, pole position, fastest lap and most places gained), Martini Paddock faced a hill to climb - one that proved to be insurmountable. A 14-10 win gave them something to be happy about, but a
30-14 loss on aggregate meant that the favorite for the tie was out - and
True North were through.
Southern Cross v. Shadow SubaruGiven their woeful run of form, anyone backing Southern Cross Racing in this tie were seen to be completely off their rockers. However, no-one expected Shadow Subaru to implode in the way they did. A poor race for Shadow Subaru in Austria, coupled with Southern Cross's strongest team showing for some time, resulted in a 14-4 win for the Australian side. A poorer race for both in Monaco meant that, like Martini Paddock, the favorite for the tie had suffered badly because of a poor first leg. A 7-5 Shadow Subaru win was not enough - and against all the odds,
Southern Cross were through to the Semis after a
19-11 aggregate win.
Snake Motorsports v. Tafuro GPJust like last season, Snake Motorsport were starting to hit the brakes in terms of their points scoring form at this point - so anything other than a strong
Tafuro GP aggregate win was to be seen with some surprise. However, there was no such problem for the Italian surprise package, securing 10-1 and 8-1 wins over the Dutch minnows to seal their Semi Final spot with an
18-2 aggregate win.
The draw for the Semi Final led to the following ties:
Aston Martin v.
True NorthSouthern Cross v.
Tafuro GPAston Martin v. True NorthSeen by all quarters as the stronger of the two semi finals, pundits across the GPGCL circuit claimed that the winner of this tie would go on to secure the crown - and having won 4 of the last 5 GPGSL races, many believed that Aston Martin would have little trouble in securing a Final berth (leading to many bets for the British marque to win the competition on the whole). The
Aston Martin team certainly didn't let the betters down, securing two crushing victories in both the GPGSL and the GPGCL. Whilst Ed Greenhalgh picked up two more winners trophies in the GPGSL (and the GPGSL Drivers crown), his team were in the final after a 16-5 first leg win and a 28-5 second leg demolishing of their strong opponents - leading to a
44-10 aggregate win.
Southern Cross v. Tafuro GPDespite the Group Stages suggesting an easy Tafuro win, this Semi Final was significantly closer than anyone ever expected, and led to a GPGCL first in the first leg of the tie - a draw. A 10-all draw in the first leg meant everything was to play for as the GPGSL rolled into Belgium - and there was even very little to separate the two teams in the second leg. However, a victory was obtained by
Tafuro GP in Spa-Francorchamps - though it was by the tighest of margins with a 9-8 victory, leading to the Italian outfit winning
19-18 on aggregate.
Resultantly, these results meant that it would be
Aston Martin playing against
Tafuro GP in the GPGCL final in Silverstone. However, there was something left to take care of as the GPGSL rolled into Brazil - the owner of the inaugral GPGCL bronze medal.
This led to a match between losing teams
True North and
Southern Cross. Despite both SCR cars making it into the points, Norbert Horvath's fourth place (coupled with a most places gained point and Glen Sheppard finishing in 9th place) meant that the British outfit secured a
14-7 win.
The only question that remains now is this -
Aston Martin or
Tafuro GP. Who will be taking the first ever GPGCL trophy?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2011 11:16PM by Diax F1.