Our April trip to the Russian resort city of Sochi marked the middle of three races in Europe to end the season. The weather was partly cloudy with temperatures in the upper 60’s and the track was dry.
At the front of the grid, Mater sat poised for his most important race of the season. Anything lower than 2nd place would automatically eliminate him from the driver’s championship. Behind him, the white cars of The Stig and Captain Slow waited for their chance to get back in the hunt, too. They each needed a 4th place or better showing. Ahead of them lay the long straight that led to turn 1, and the knowledge that higher speeds at this track meant the back of the grid would have time to close in fast. Here’s how the full grid looked:
P1 – Mater (Ryan)
P2 – The Stig (Jason)
P3 – Captain Slow (Jason)
P4 – Danger Wheel (Ryan)
P5 – Nero (Lonny)
P6 – Launch Bornado (Frank)
P7 – Ice (Lonny)
P8 – Jaap Snellrijder (Frank)
The lights went out and everyone began the rapid process of upshifting as fast as possible along the lengthy front straight. The Stig managed to edge past Mater and into a temporary lead, while Danger Wheel scooted past the reluctant Captain Slow. With Launch Bornado charging up the right side and Captain Slow dragging his feet on the left, Nero made his move up the middle. Unfortunately, his front wing suffered damage in the process, having barely even passed the starting line.
Mater recovered to take back the lead by turn 2 with Launch Bornado charging hard enough to join the pack chasing him. Nero took a more cautious line through the first two turns. His teammate, Ice, desperate to catch up with the leaders from a distant 7th, charged through the second turn. As he came around the outside of Nero, he misjudged their relative speed and Nero was sent off the track and out of the race.
Ice suffered minor front wing damage which would plague his efforts to catch up, as the Cobalt crew back in the pits rued the development. Mater hit turn 4 ahead of the others, but the racing was so tight that all 6 of the remaining cars were fighting through it at the same time.
The Stig was fastest on the inside line and flew past Mater in turn 5 with Jaap taking a similar tack. He and Mater would get the edge on the Stig through turn 6 and then were drag racing down the long back stretch out of turn 7. Further back, Launch and Captain Slow kept up with the Stig but Danger Wheel and Ice began to trail behind.
The only real developments over the third sector were a push from Danger Wheel all the way up to 3rd place and a belabored effort from Launch Bornado, who couldn’t find a rhythm through turn 8 and 9. Most drivers, having suffered some form of damage due to all the tight racing, opted for extended repairs. Jaap’s quick pit wasn’t quick enough to keep up with Mater on the front straight, and he began to pull away. Launch, having raced a cautious but clean first lap, decided to forgo the pits entirely.
Mater’s efforts to get away from Jaap came for naught after Jaap went full gangbusters through turns 2 and 3. Behind them, the rest of the field began to stratify. Danger Wheel held a comfortable 3rd place over Launch and Captain Slow. The Stig was struggling to keep up and Ice was almost a non-factor.
The second sector saw things start to shift around again. At first, Mater reestablished himself over Jaap through turn 5, but Jaap caught him again in turn 7 while carrying greater speed down the long straight. Behind them, Launch was mounting a charge, catching Danger Wheel in turn 5 and passing him in turn 7. Ice even caught up with the Stig, both of them beginning to threaten Captain Slow in 5th place. Jaap’s blazing path down the back stretch forced him to downshift hard into turn 8, giving Mater and Launch a chance to catch up.
Danger Wheel was being equally challenged by Captain Slow, who’d managed to shake the Stig and Ice. In the end, Jaap was able to pull away from Launch and Mater. Launch’s charge through lap 2 had left him needing to nurse his tires, and that was enough for Mater to take 2nd place. The battle for 4th turned out to be the most thrilling. Both Danger Wheel and Captain Slow came out of turn 10 onto the front straight in strong position, but Danger Wheel was just ahead. He floored it and barelled down the front straight in what appeared to be an insurmountable lead. However, Captain Slow followed inches behind, ultimately using the advantage of Danger Wheel’s slipstream to pull past him at just the last moment and cross the line in 4th.
Ice momentarily passed the Stig for 6th in turn 9, but the Stig went for broke through turn 10 to take 6th place.
Final Results
| Driver | Start | Lap | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jaap Snellrijder (RM) | 8 | 2 | 1 |
| Mater (GT) | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Launch Bornado (RM) | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| Captain Slow (SB) | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Danger Wheel (GT) | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| The Stig (SB) | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| Ice (CO) | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Nero (CO) | 5 | 8, dnf | 8, dnf |
Outside of the Cobalt garages, one could reasonably argue that this was the most thrilling race of the season so far. There were numerous high speed passes and quite a bit of jockeying for position. The condensed racing through the first sector provided a number of thrilling moves, including Launch slipstreaming past Captain Slow into turn 5 on the second lap. Clearly, he learned something from that maneuver. His catching Danger Wheel at what was literally the last possible moment is one of the highlights of the year.
With his victory, Jaap Snellrijder has locked up the season championship. He’s the first driver to win multiple races and has matched Ice with 4 podiums on the year. Ice’s victory from 5th place in Germany has now been eclipsed by Jaap’s 8th place start as the farthest back anyone has started and won. Launch Bornado’s 3rd place finish ties Ice at 4 podiums and edges him one point ahead of Ice in the standings for 2nd place.
Mater got the 2nd place finish he needed to have any shot at the driver’s championship, but that was predicated on Jaap finishing 8th. The best he can do now is 2nd, which requires a lot of other things to go in his favor. Neither of the Scandinavian Blitz drivers have a shot at any of the top 3 spots. Danger Wheel and Mater are both closing the gap on Nero after his consecutive DNF’s, with just 4 points separating the three drivers heading into our final race of the season.
At the team level, Regency Motors scored 40 points, second only to Cobalt’s performance at Sebring. That now wraps up the team championship for them. The race for 2nd, however, is still open to anyone, including Scandinavian Blitz.
