Forzday Race Review - 11/5/15 - Spa

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps – 11/5/15

 The action was intense last night as the field of 5 racers took to the corners and straights of the legendary Spa race course.  After sorting through connectivity problems, and losing Paul Maestri from the field, we got started with Heat 1 of the B-Class series cars. Turn 1 proved to be just as difficult as anticipated. Several altercations would happen here in the opening seconds of nearly every heat that was run. But staying true to form would not be Andrew Steppat’s problem on this inaugural run of Spa on the FRL circuit of tracks, and he would easily best the field securing a solid 1^st place position in the class. Racing between series vet Ethan Maestri and newcomer Bryan Dean would be very close in the opening stages of Heat 3 in the B-Class. Bryan would ultimately win out and placed second with Ethan finishing a ways behind in third.

 In the BAC Mono A-Class, these race machines proved to be a lot of fun. Some very tight racing was seen amongst the front runners as Andrew and Ethan would finish 1-2 in every heat with no more than 2 seconds separating them at the finish line. In the final heat, Bryan would make his presence known as he led most of the first lap, but got his machine out of sorts in the final chicane and pushed out and into Ethan, allowing Andrew to step though the open door. Though Ethan would post the fastest lap of the night @ 2:33.120, Andrew would again take the class win with three solid 1^st place positions.

 It was “experience night” for two others in the field. Newcomer Chris Rader made his debut in the series posting solid 4^th position finishes in each class, and placed him ahead of Carter Merkling and Paul Maestri in the series points. Series veteran Ross Merkling made his return to the ranks of the FRL and posted 5^th position in each class. He’ll be looking to shore-up his stable and make a run for Chris’s position in the coming events.

 The FRL is off to Germany as we take the series to the Nurburgring Grand Prix Circuit on November 19^th for the showdown on the GP-Strecke.  

Results:

B-Class
Driver	Position (Avg.)	Best Time	Points
Andrew Steppat	1.00	2:37.989	20
Ethan Maestri	2.33	2:40.779	16
Bryan Dean	2.66	2:40.916	13
Chris Rader	4.00	2:55.648	10
Ross Merkling	5.00	3:20.297	8
A-Class
Andrew Steppat	1.00	2:33.428	20
Ethan Maestri	2.00	2:33.120	16
Bryan Dean	3.00	2:36.583	13
Chris Rader	4.00	2:42.235	10
Ross Merkling	5.00	3:05.216	8

Series Points after 2 Events:

Series Points:	B-Class	A-Class	Total
Andrew Steppat	40	40	80
Ethan Maestri	32	32	64
Bryan Dean	26	26	52
Chris Rader	10	10	20
Carter Merkling	8	10	18
Paul Maestri	10	8	18
Ross Merkling	8	8	16