Forzday Race Review - Brands Hatch 12/31/15

 For race number six in the FRL series we journeyed to Brands Hatch for a duel with one of the narrowest tracks on this season’s circuit.

 B-Class action started off with wild starts through the first three turns. Several drivers would suffer early setbacks in these opening turns. In Heat 1, newcomer Ross Carpenter made his debut in his Toyota Trueno and got an early induction into FRL racing by sliding off Turn 1 and into the gravel. Then, Mikey Collins and Bryan Dean got together in Turn 3 and Bryan spun hard. Bryan would have to race hard, but was still able to post a top 3 finish in the heat. In Heat 2, Mikey, Ethan and Bryan were all racing for 2^nd position when Ethan and Mikey got together in the final turn and both ended up way out in the sand. Ethan would claw his way back to 3rd while Mikey fell back to 5^th. Andrew Steppat ruled the evening in B-Class, posting 1^st place finishes in all three heats. Bryan secured 2^nd in the class with Ethan in 3^rd. Ross Carpenter showed he had the chops to make waves in the FRL by placing 4^th overall in the class. Mikey and Chris Rader rounded out the field in 5^th and 6^th respectively.

 In the A-Class event, Andrew Steppat once again set the pace overall, but had some early challenges in Heat 1 negotiating traffic to get to second place. Once he closed the gap on race leader Ethan Maestri, a duel for position unfolded in the final two laps that ended with Andrew crossing the line just 0.183 seconds ahead of Ethan. Bryan Dean suffered some setup issues and turned his Mono several times in this heat, resulting in a finish behind Mikey Collins, in 4^th place. Ross Carpenter also had difficulty with the transition from B to A-Class and finished behind Chris Rader in all three heats.

 In all for the night, Andrew Steppat claimed both class victories and secured the points lead once again. Ethan was able to hold serve, despite a dismal performance in his B-Class VW, and netted 29 points overall. Bryan, while doing well in the B-Class, fell short in the BAC netting 29 points also, maintaining the gap between 2^nd and 3^rd at 11 points. Chris Rader, while losing 4 points to Mikey Collins, finds himself virtually unchallenged in fourth place overall. Mikey passes rookie Carter Merkling for the 5^th position and is now 28 points behind Chris. Ross Carpenter makes his debut race here at Brands Hatch and immediately moves up the board, ahead of Tim Adkins, and ties race veteran Ross Merkling for 8^th position with 16 points.

 We head across the pond and into the home stretch for the season as event number seven will be at Watkins Glen on January 14^th.

Results:

B-Class
Driver	Position (Avg.)	Best Time	Points
Andrew Steppat	1.00	1:35.217	20
Bryan Dean	2.33	1:37.924	16
Ethan Maestri	2.66	1:38.548	13
Ross Carpenter	4.33	1:42.501	10
Mikey Collins	5.33	1:42.745	8
Chris Rader	5.33	1:44.291	6
A-Class
Andrew Steppat	1.33	1:32.203	20
Ethan Maestri	1.66	1:33.658	16
Bryan Dean	3.33	1:35.524	13
Mikey Collins	3.66	1:36.009	10
Chris Rader	5.00	1:37.842	8
Ross Carpenter	6.00	1:39.336	6

Points after 6 of 8 events:

Series Points:	B-Class	A-Class	Total
Andrew Steppat	93	100	193
Ethan Maestri	90	100	190
Bryan Dean	98	81	179
Chris Rader	42	48	90
Mikey Collins	31	31	62
Carter Merkling	26	26	52
Paul Maestri	10	8	18
Ross Merkling	8	8	16
Ross Carpenter	10	6	16
Tim Adkins	6	-	6