Forzday Race Review - Circuit de Catalunya

 It was a short trip for the haulers to move from the Czeck Republic to southern Spain and the FRL kicked off another event at Circuit de Catalunya. This would be a barn-burner at times and would ultimately change the face of the points race for the season, mainly due to a connection problem experienced by series front-runner Andrew Steppat. The rest of the field connected, but Andrew drew the short straw and the Microsoft gods prevented him from being able to join the lobby for the night.

 B-Class racing started off with several bangs into Turn 1 as ‘up and coming’ rookie Chris Radar and Tim Adkins – Tim, making his FRL debut here – tusseled in Turn 1 (and elsewhere) on several races. Mikey Collins, coming off a solid start at his Prague debut, raced Ethan fairly well in the opening lap of each heat before finally settling into two 3rd place finishes in the class heats. Carter Merkling showed some fire in his Renault keeping mostly quiet in the first two heats, but taking advantage of a late mistake by Mikey and sniping a 3rd place finish in Heat 3.

 Bryan Dean was the front runner for the night, racing sharp as a tack and staying laser-locked on the proper line. He would post a field best 2:01.158 in his psychedelic VW. Ethan followed a short ways behind, posting laps about a half second slower.

 Tim would exit for the night before A-Class racing could begin, leaving a field of 5 to pilot their BAC Mono’s around the F1 course these race whips were designed for. Ethan Maestri gained a stranglehold on 1^st place for the first two heats, leading all six laps. But in the final heat, he and Bryan would tangle through Turn 1 and Ethan ended up out in the grass. Though Bryan valiantly offered up the position, both would have to race from the back in 4^th and 5^th positions. Bryan encountered some trouble getting around Carter early and Ethan was there to pass them both. This setup Mikey, Chris and Ethan running nose-to-tail for about a lap of intense jockeying. Eventually, Chris faded back to 3rd and had to contend with a hard charging Bryan Dean. Mikey and Ethan ran hard through the final lap when Mikey finally slipped up the track enough for Ethan to make a pass to take 1st place. Chris almost gave away 3rd, but held on and beat Bryan in a drag race to the finish line.

 The racing was good, even for a night soured by the absence of a race regular. Mikey, Chris, and Carter, all new drivers in the series, posted at least one 3^rd place heat finish. Bryan Dean demonstrated sheer dominance in the B-Class cars, but closing the gap on Ethan proved to be a wash due to Ethan’s solid A-Class performance. The points shake-up is noticeable as Andrew now drops to 2nd place and Ethan moves up to 1st place, with only 11 points separating the top 3 drivers. Chris continues to lead in the rookie race, enjoying a 20+ point lead over his nearest opponent. However, Mikey gains nearly 8 points on the rookie front runner and closes to within 8 points of Carter Merkling. Both points races will be interesting to watch in these final 3 events. We are headed back to the UK and Brands Hatch for race #6 in the series on Jan. 7, 2016. 

Race Results

B-Class
Driver	Position (Avg.)	Best Time	Points
Bryan Dean	1.66	2:01.158	20
Ethan Maestri	2.00	2:01.488	16
Mikey Collins	2.33	2:06.500	13
Carter Merkling	4.00	2:11.895	10
Chris Rader	5.00	2:10.637	8
Tim Adkins	5.66	2:16.924	6

A-Class
Ethan Maestri	1.00	1:58.880	20
Bryan Dean	2.66	1:59.464	16
Mikey collins	3.33	2:01.434	13
Chris Rader	3.66	2:03.558	10
Carter Merkling	4.33	2:03.563	8

After 5 of 8 events:

Series Points:	B-Class	A-Class	Total
Ethan Maestri	77	84	161
Andrew Steppat	73	80	153
Bryan Dean	82	68	150
Chris Rader	36	40	76
Carter Merkling	26	26	52
Mikey Collins	23	21	44
Paul Maestri	10	8	18
Ross Merkling	8	8	16
Tim Adkins	6	-	6