In the weeks leading up to the Race of Australia, the general consensus was that Bathurst was going to be a brutal affair where drivers would be expected to take their lumps and then move on with the rest of the season. The race came and everyone was generally surprised at how well everything went. Sure there were some off’s and a few incidents, but there were no calls for “ban that track” or “never again” from anyone afterward. Everyone finished, breathed a sigh of relief, and looked forward to even better tracks ahead. Little did anyone realize the danger of Rio de Janeiro lying there like a landmine just waiting to be stepped on.
Stepped on it was as the Race of Brazil was run this past Sunday night. Not a single car left the course without some sort of damage, be it cosmetic or mechanical. For those that did their level best to be careful, it was still a dice roll to see if you could escape unscathed. Who would benefit from the carnage?
The fact that a record number of cars turned out for the race meant that excitement was running high for the event. Unfortunately, it also meant that the chances and consequences for failure of any kind were just that much higher as well. For three drivers, finishing at the back would mean they would not earn any points for their efforts. For Allen Ruff, having had such a solid event previously at Yas Marina, finishing twelfth overall here would be a real blow for his campaign in the points. Tom Henderson has shown steady improvement through this series, and was even running near the front for most of the second heat. However, disaster seemed to be lurking around nearly every corner for him and the rookie finished eleventh for the night, certainly hurting his run in the rookie points race. The same could be said for Owen Henderson. He’s looking to become this series Sauber or Manor as he finishes the night in thirteenth overall and has yet to score a point in the series to date.
But, a bad night for a rookie driver is one thing, it is something else to be a driver in the Top 5 and experience crippling setbacks. Paul Maestri felt the frustration heavily in both heats from mistakes he made and by getting caught up in others as well. He drops from a tie for first place in the points, back to third in points with a fifth overall finish. However, he muscled through adversity and does benefit from a fast lap bonus point that helps keep Ethan Maestri at bay, four points behind him in the standings. If anyone deserves a ‘Spirit of the Race’ award though, it would be Travis Billingsley. Setbacks in the first heat held him to a fourth place finish, this would keep him from being able to pull ahead of Andrew Steppat in the points at this event - barring some disaster on Andrew’s part. However, a heat win or second place finish would keep him very close in the points race. So when things went sideways in the first lap of the second heat, any other driver might have given up, but not Travis. Despite getting hit and turned three times in the first lap, Travis was able to storm back from near catastrophe to take third place in the heat, securing a podium finish for a very tough event. This serves to keep him in the hunt for the championship, just 13 points behind series leader Andrew Steppat.
As badly as things went for those drivers, others had very good nights, despite difficulties. Carter Merkling and his #16 Chevy Cruze benefited from the numerous misfortunes of others and secured eighth place overall, good enough for 4 points, earning the most points of any of the R.B.R. drivers. Nicholas Hargrove did make a rather large mistake in the second heat that put a damper on his chances at a top 5 finish, but despite that error, still managed to finish seventh overall and the 6 points he earned helped to distance himself from the other rookies in the field. The ten point gap that has now opened in that points race makes him a very hard target to hit for the remainder of the series.
So what do we take away from Rio? Well, this was a much more difficult track than many anticipated. Despite accidents and mistakes, much was learned by all the drivers there. The result being that series veterans like Andrew and Ethan were able to make advances in points. But other front runners suffered setbacks that allowed them to make up that ground. While coming away from an event with a three-way tie for the front is exciting, finishing this event with 21 points separating the top four drivers means there is still a lot of intense action in the events to come. Also, when you look at the next six positions behind them, there are only 12 points separating all of those drivers!
There is still a whole lot of excitement to come as the series moves on to Europe with the Race of France being the next event on the calendar, October 23rd.
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