Barcelona Recap

Sunny skies and a moderate temperatures welcomed the SBMRL to Barcelona for the final race of the 2017-18 season.  The Stig came into the race with two challengers to fight off for the driver championship, Whiplash and Launch Bornado, but a large enough lead that finishing close to both would result in him taking the title.  From the team stand point, all four teams entered the race within 12 points of each other, so the championship was truly up for grabs.

With so much at stake, the starting grid lined up as follows:

P1 – Captain Slow (Jason)
P2 – Stevie Wondertyres (Jason)
P3 – Sheila Dinkum (Frank)
P4 – Bubba McQueen (Barb)
P5 – Jaap Snellrijder (Frank)
P6 – Launch Bornado (Barb)
P7 – Whiplash (Frank)
P8 – The Stig (Jason)

As the lights went out, the field pulled away down the long approach to turn 1.  Captain Slow made good on his pole position by establishing himself as the race’s early leader.  Throughout the first sector, the rest of the field jockeyed back and forth, but the only significant movement was Stevie falling progressively further and further behind.  Notably, the Stig was not able to do much passing and stayed at the back of the pack.

The second sector saw the first aggressive forays toward the front.  The Force Ravenswood team of Launch and Bubba were joined by Jaap in their challenge of Captain Slow.  These four cars made up the lead pack, while Sprite Racing’s drivers and the Stig began to pull away from Sheila a bit.

Three cars wide in Campsa

Former teammates Jaap and Launch battled through Europcar and into the final corner of the track, New Holland.  Behind them, Captain Slow and Bubba were caught up by the Stig and Whiplash as the tightness of sector three condensed the field.  Sheila, meanwhile, did her best to not fall too far behind.

Jaap and Launch complete the final turn of lap 1

The early leader of the second lap was decided quickly.  While Jaap charged down the start-finish straight, Launch dove for the pits.  A quick change of tires meant that Launch was able to come out just ahead of the Stig, who had copied Jaap’s approach, but both were well back of the Regency Motors driver in the first sector.  They were joined in the trailing group by Whiplash, who was the only other driver to stay out on track.

Pack separation due to pitting

It doesn’t happen every race, but now and then the pits catch someone out.  Here in Barcelona, it was Bubba.  Bubba’s pit experience wasn’t the worst example the SBMRL has seen, and he actually held up the three cars behind him.  However, he did get passed by two cars who didn’t pit.  After running no lower than 4th in the first lap, he didn’t run that high again for the rest of the race.

Back at the front, Jaap drove cautiously enough through the first few corners to give those behind him reason to hope of catching him.  Launch had the best shot in sector two, but the Stig was also mounting a charge.  This part of the circuit is where Whiplash began to fade a bit and Captain Slow and Sheila started to real him in.  Stevie held an edge over Bubba in the battle for last place.

A bird’s eye view of lap 2’s second sector

With a moderate lead and just the third sector remaining in the season, Jaap did not disappoint.  He took each corner of the third sector with ease, and cruised home with the win.  In contrast, the battle for 2nd place was far from over.  While Launch and the Stig fought for supremacy, Captain Slow caught them both around the outside of Banc Sabadell.

Captain Slow passes Launch and the Stig

From as far back as he had come, this was a rather surprising turn of events.  Bubba and the Sprite Racing team had lost contact with Sheila in the battle for 5th place, but little was as close as the fight for second.  Around the final corner, Captain Slow, Launch, and the Stig came side-by-side.

The fight for 2nd place

From here, it was a drag race to the finish.  Captain Slow’s hard charge to catch up left him with a little less at the end, and it was Launch who managed to eke out a photo finish 2nd place over the Stig.  Bubba’s efforts to fight past Stevie and Whiplash were also for naught.  Whiplash proved superior in the final sector, while Stevie had just enough speed down the straight to relegate Bubba to last place.

Stevie and Bubba at the finish

Barcelona was one of the most evenly fought races in SBMRL history.  Jaap was the only driver not to race in 7th or 8th place at some point.  Every driver spent time in 2nd place, and 5 different cars held the lead.  In fact, 1st place was the only track position not held by 7 of the 8 cars at some point.

Final Results

Jaap records his 3rd victory of the season, bouncing back from a last place finish in Shanghai.  It’s his SBMRL leading 7th victory overall.  Launch’s 2nd place finish is his 4th podium in the last 5 races and 5th overall for the season.  That ties the Stig for most on the year after the Stig rounded out the rostrum in 3rd place.

Championship Results

The Stig’s 3rd place finish was more than enough to maintain his lead in the driver standings, taking home his first ever championship.  We’ve now had 3 different drivers win the title, with Jaap and Launch winning the previous two.

Jaap’s victory was just enough to edge past Launch for 2nd place by a paltry 2 points.  At the other end of the standings, Captain Slow came into the race needing to outscore Stevie by 8 points to get out of the cellar.  Instead, his 4th place finish was only worth 6 more than Stevie’s 7th place, leaving him in last.

Much was made over the team standings coming into the race, as only 12 points separated all 4 teams.  Force Ravenswood, sitting 7 points up on Scandinavian Blitz was in the best position, but that margin was so small that anything was possible.  With the top three teams all represented on the podium, the team championship was ultimately decided by how the cars finished lower down.  Ultimately, Sheila finishing in 5th and Bubba finishing last resulted in a 4 point championship edge for Regency Motors over Force Ravenswood.  Scandinavian Blitz saw their cars finish in 3rd and 4th place.  That scored them a sizeable haul of points, but not quite enough to finish any higher than 3rd.  Still, at only 2 points behind Force Ravenswood and 6 back of the title, they have nothing to hang their heads about.

Driver Champion: The Stig
Team Champion: Regency Motors

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