It seems like a long time since the first race of the year in Belgium, but our trip to Austin for the United States Grand Prix is just around the corner. This race will coincide with Formula 1’s trip to the same venue for their 2016 season.
Circuit of the America’s played host to the SBMRL’s first race last season and it proved to be a tremendous race highlighted by 3 crashes and a few spin outs. When all was said and done, Jaap Snellrijder took the checkered flag with Mater close behind him.
The track itself has a variety of challenges including sharp hairpins and weaving esses. The pit straight isn’t particularly long and leads uphill into a quick left hander. Given that Turn 2 follows closely, cars at the front of the grid will have a distinct advantage here. Turn 3 is the esses, a fairly forgiving section of track that is unlikely to put anyone out. Since there shouldn’t be too much trouble through this part of the track, any mistake will cost the driver valuable track position.
The first sector finishes up with the challenging Turn 4, which can really slow cars down. The momentum that cars can carry out of Turn 4 will dictate not just their approach to Turn 5 but their ultimate speed down the back straight. Hit this combination just right and there will be ample opportunity to move up the order. The back straight will see a ton of downshifting on the approach to Turn 6, which can really catch drivers out if they carry too much speed.
Turn 7 will keep the cars in lower gears, but drivers shouldn’t underestimate the potential it holds to set up a car for the final few corners. Turns 8, 9, and 10 are all spaced apart just right to tempt higher speeds than may be advised, but taking them too slow will allow others to catch up and pass. This is the part of the track that saw multiple spin outs in last year’s race, including Nero doing it twice on extremely thin tyres.
In last year’s race, every car took advantage of the pits to, at minimum, put on a new set of tyres. However, a conservative approach through the first lap could see a car able to skip the pits and gain a position or two. Of course, any car that drives too aggressively through Turn 10 may not be left with a choice.
STARTING GRID
As is league custom, after the first race of the season the starting grid will be the reverse order of the standings. That puts Belgium winner Ice all the way at the back of the pack. Mater, who was the first casualty of Spa, gets the coveted pole position. It’ll be the 4th time that he’s started at the front. Nero will start in 2nd place. The only other time he’s started higher than 3rd was last year’s race in Austin, when he started from pole and finished 5th.
- Mater (RB)
- Nero (CO)
- Jaronimus (ORC)
- Jamonito (ORC)
- The Stig (SB)
- Launch Bornado (RM)
- Danger Wheel (RB)
- Captain Slow (SB)
- Jaap Snellrijder (RM)
- Ice (CO)
Pit selection is in reverse order of the team’s average starting position. That results in selections in this order:
- Regency Motors
- Scandinavian Blitz
- Cobalt
- Red Bull
- Osito Racing Company