Race of Australia - Recap

      Tension builds as the first parade lap for the Race of Australia comes to a close

The hype and apprehension came to a head Sunday night as the FRL kicked off its season opener at the course over Mt. Panorama, Bathurst. Qualifying on Thursday night had left a few questions to be settled and 12 racers showed up for answers at this event.

Heat 1

The green flag drops and Season 5 begins

                                    

Andrew Steppat scored the first pole of the season and led the field around for the parade lap. After lining up, Owen Henderson marshalled the race start, a clean start at that, to begin the season. Charging up and over Mt. Panorama, Andrew capitalized on his track position and immediately began to put distance on the field. Travis Billingsley quickly passed Ethan Maestri at the start, but early race jitters kept him from getting settled with the car, allowing Ethan’s Audi to shadow the Volvo for a couple of laps. There was early trouble for a few drivers coming over the mountain. Rookie’s Nicholas Hargrove and Matthew Smith had early off’s that resulted in serious damage to their cars and they would pit early. Veteran driver Paul Maestri also had an unfortunate off and would spend time in the pits early on as well.

#18 dives through the esses as the #85 lurks behind

Traffic would play a role around the midpoint of the race, as the battle for second between Travis and Ethan began to heat up. Matthew Smith’s A-Class Mercedes was caught by the two heading up the mountain. Travis would check-up to leave him room, allowing Ethan to close on his bumper. As the group crested the hill, Matt would swing wide right and started to lose grip, Travis recognized and let off the throttle, but got into the left wall a bit awkwardly. This allowed Ethan to shoot the gap and take second. However, Travis would easily take it back in the straight at the beginning of the next lap. Another lap later and the two approached Turn 2, Ethan dive-bombed the corner and the #85 stuck in the corner hard. Travis lifted and Ethan took second place for good. Not long after, Travis would get into the wall hard in Turn 18 and would eventually have to pit to fix the damage.

Travis’ pit would open the door for Bryan Dean to make some ground and eventually pass Travis for the third position. This was something of a minor miracle considering Bryan had a serious off in Hell’s Corner back on lap 3. He would have to pit early to repair and was resolved to only a top 4-5 finish. He inherited P3 with Travis coming out of the pit lane and would hold on for the final podium spot in the heat.

The big question on the night was fuel mileage. Did the cars have enough to go all the way or not? Rule changes that occurred during the off-season really muddy the waters even more. The answer became clear on lap 12 when Andrew had to bring his 125i in for fuel. He was hoping for a large enough lead to not have to worry about giving up P1, but Ethan Maestri had enough pace to pass him while the #001 was still in the pit lane. The gap proved to be too much for Andrew to close up in the final two laps and Ethan brought his S3 across the line in first place.

Heat 2

Heat 2 would see the grid order reversed

Heat two would be a little less hectic, but no less eventful, as once again, a clean start prevailed over the reverse grid order. Rookie Tom Henderson piloted his A-Class through the first lap in the lead, followed closely by Drew Dilbeck. Further back, most of the field was focused, not so much on passing, but on not running into each other on the track. In this environment, Andrew Steppat once again showed his incredible skill level by clearing most of the field by the second lap.

Ethan Maestri was trying to play it cautious and let the field disperse, but as lap 3 began, the traffic in front of him was still as thick as rush hour in the city. So, beginning with Turn 2 he began moving forward. He would pass Matthew Smith and looked to be making ground on team-mate Bryan Dean when Matthew’s A-Class punched into his right-rear quarter panel, spinning him hard into the wall. Thinking he was clear, Ethan punched the end around to get back in line, but Tony Tyree rounded the corner and had nowhere to go but into the back of Ethan’s Audi. Both cars were heavily damaged, Ethan with the better end of the deal would limp around the rest of the track and into the pits. Tony would have to go back down the hill in reverse direction as the engine damage was too severe to get him over the hill. The full course caution would be the first of the night.

Drew Dilbeck passes Tom Henderson for the lead in Heat 2, but the silver bullets behind him would make it short lived.

There was a bit of confusion going into the virtual safety car caution. Andrew Steppat had just passed front-runners Tom and Drew when the call came across the radio. In the confusion, he would drop one gear too many while slowing down, this caused some engine damage that would be trouble for him. He would later find that he was 2-3 seconds off his normal pace. As the caution cleared and the field went back to green, disaster would strike for Bryan Dean again as his controller disconnected and sent him into the wall. On his exit from the pit lane, it would disconnect again, ending his chance at getting into the top 5 for the heat.

Paul Maestri had started off the race on a sour note with a missed shift, but recovered well and kept the #86 clean, picking off a few spots and settling into P3. He would finish his race there with a solid finish. Travis Billingsley put the first heat jitters behind him here in Heat 2. He would set a blistering pace and was able to capitalize on Andrew’s missed shift during the caution. He would steadily close the gap on his Apex team-mate and as Andrew brought his car in for fuel and repair, Travis would pilot his #18 Volvo into the lead and the eventual win.

Through Hell and back. Hell's Corner did claim a few victims, but was largely quiet.

Driver Comments:

Travis Billingsley, on working through the traffic early in Heat 2: “I was a bit surprised that heading down the front straight, the Apex BMW I saw in my rearview mirror was Andrew instead of Tony.”

 Bryan Dean on the event: “What a wild and emotional ride this was. I ask all my fellow racers ‘Do you love the way hate Bathurst or do you hate the way you love it?’ Because that's how I feel. What and wonderful yet horrible track!”

 Paul Maestri on his incident in the first heat: “I was satisfied hanging on to a 4th place spot... Turn 9 had other plans. Bounced off the wall with zero damage but pinballed into opposite wall causing driveline damage. Happy no one rammed me.”

Ethan Maestri at the end of the first heat: “Hot dang, RZM actually got one!”

Andrew Steppat on the event overall: “Disappointed to come out of the race with no wins but a double 2nd place finish and fastest laps should keep me ok in the points standings. Good to see FRL veteran Ethan Maestri grab a good win, as well as Apex Racing teammate Travis Billingsley. I haven't seen the replays yet, but it seemed like collisions were at a minimal for the evening. Says a lot about the driving and sportsmanship of all the drivers at a notoriously difficult track. Time to fuel up the yacht and set up shop at Yas Marina.”

The racing was intense for both heats, and a fair sight better than many of the participants had been expecting. Two things to take away from this event: 1. Driver level in the FRL has advanced well, as evidenced by 5 different drivers finishing in the top 3 of both heats. 2. The WTCC cars promise some exciting racing in the events yet to come. The FRL heads off to the Middle East for a show-down in the sand at Yas Marina in two weeks.

Stay tuned to the FRL’s blogpage for results from the Race of Australia as the points race for the Season 5 championship begins.