Race of France - Review

Season Five of the FRL, the WTCC Championship series, rolls into Le Mans for the Race of France on the Bugatti Circuit. Under the lights of the track, 13 cars rolled off the line in Heat 1 in relatively quiet fashion. Polesitter Travis Billingsley held onto his P1 position early, but he was challenged hard by teammate Andrew Steppat throughout his lead. These two would run a fairly clean but heated battle at the front.

Meanwhile, Ethan Maestri had some early lap mistakes and fell back to P10, leaving teammate Bryan Dean to carry the R.Z.M. banner at the front of the field. Paul Maestri was holding in the Top 5 and even looked like he might be able to make a challenge to Bryan’s P3 position. However, a mid-race mistake in the front stretch sent him hard into the wall, wrecking his car and forcing him to finish the heat in P12.

Besides the intense battle at the front, Tony Tyree & Matthew Smith would spend a majority of both heats racing each other in some of the best back-n-forth action on the track all night. Ethan Maestri had to gingerly tip-toe around these two in order to make his way back into the Top 5, Tony would benefit from a wide line taken by Matthew and would follow the #85 R.Z.M. Audi to a P5 finish. Matthew would fall further back to a hard charging Drew Dilbeck and Owen Henderson to finish P8. While never really being able to get into a position to challenge his Millennium Motorsport teammate, Owen Henderson showed marked improvement in this event and shadowed Drew throughout. Tom Henderson would struggle through both heats, finishing both in P10. Carter Merkling and Allen Ruff would both make apperances in this heat, however, Allen would suffer lag problems early and would retire from the heat and would not return for Heat 2. Carter suffered through Heat 1, having little practice on the track, but still finished P11 ahead of Paul and Allen. His night would end early as he retired from the field during the parade lap for Heat 2.

Travis would fight hard for a win in this heat, but a slide into the Dunlop turns and subsequent run-in with the speed bumps ended his reign at the top. Andrew Steppat easily skirted his #001 BMW around the stricken Volvo and would finish the heat in P1.

Heat 2 would be an interesting ride for many

Heat 2 started with a bit more gusto than Heat 1. The reversed grid order did its usual job of making for interesting race start viewing. As the mad scramble for position ensued, Andrew Steppat did a masterful job of shooting the gap and assuming a Top 5 position before the Dunlop turns were even reached. Several challenges would be made against his advancement by several drivers, but ultimately he would make his way toward the front, eventually passing Bryan Dean and setting sail for a clean sweep of both heats.

Travis Billingsley would have a more adventurous time getting to the front. Using almost all 16 laps before closing on Bryan Dean in the closing lap and challenging his P2 spot. However, time and turns ran out for the Apex driver and Bryan scores his first P2 finish this season. Paul Maestri makes a great recovery after the disaster in Heat 1. He finishes P4 and gains a bonus point by setting the third fastest lap time of the night, keeping him in the hunt in the series points race. Ethan Maestri would struggle getting through traffic again and would have to settle for a P5 finish. Tony Tyree would take advantage of good car control again and finishes P6 in the heat. It would alo land him his biggest points performance, a P5 overall position on the night. Further back, results would be mixed for the newly named Millenium Motorsport crew, with Drew finishing a respectable P6 overall and Owen Henderson scoring his first points of the season, finishing P9 overall. Rookie Nicholas Hargrove would take the final point position bringing home P10.