FRL Season 8 Recap - Silverstone

 The FRL rolled into the historic Silverstone Circuit for round five of Season 8. With only a three point advantage in points, Andrew Steppat had a difficult task ahead to stay ahead in the rain that inundated the track for this event. The mid-engined Noble of Travis Billingsley seemed to be favored in the wet conditions, over the front-engined Viper, driven by Andrew.

 Qualifying soon demonstrated that it would be advantage Andrew, but only slightly. Green flag conditions quickly brought chaos as Travis and Andrew distanced themselves early. Paul Maestri got his #33 AMG off to a flying start from the line, which caught Ethan unawares as his 911 caught better traction than some from the line as well. The two would touch coming through Turn 2 and Paul would lose touch with anything close to resembling a braking surface, which sent him way off the track through Turn 3. Tony Tyree would position his Corvette well to try and take advantage of Ethan's hesitation through the corner. However, Ethan was able to recover and pass Tony on the backside of the opening lap. Tony would slip on the track and fall back into the clutches of Drew Dilbeck and Nicholas Hargrove. The battle at the rear of the field would prove to be as interesting as the one at the front. In the end though, an internet drop-off would befall Tony, eliminating him from the race. The resultant distraction led to Paul taking an unfortunate header into a tire wall. The end result would be another heat win for Andrew, followed by Travis. Ethan Maestri would run by his lonesome in P3. Drew Dillbeck makes a mighty return by finishing P4 in the McLaren.

 Heat 2 would be an exciting start as, once more, Paul gets a blindingly fast start and leaped to the front. Ethan and Drew would run close in the opening corners, and Travis and Andrew gingerly picked their way forward. Andrew and Ethan would tangle a bit before Andrew got the power down on the Wellington Straight and pulled away to go catch Paul's AMG. Travis challenged Ethan at Copse and appeared to gain the position. However, Ethan charged back alongside heading into Beckett's. His 911 swung wide in the corner and Travis was able to scamper away. Tony charged hard into this race and he and Drew had several side-by-side moments. Tony would prove the better of the two though and brought his Corvette in ahead of the McLaren. Andrew and Travis would slide around Paul and would set sail, with the advantage to Andrew again. Ethan and Paul would lock together in a pitched battle, the #3 911 chasing the #33 AMG until lap 5 when Ethan finally moved around Paul at Chapel and hurried away down Hanger Straight.

 In the end, Andrew's Viper dominated in the rain, extending his lead in the points by 6 over Travis. Ethan leaps past Bryan Dean, who missed the event, and Paul tightens the top 5 by closing to within 11 points of Bryan. Tony Tyree breaks 50 points and finds himself within 8 points of making it into the top 5.

 The action resumes next weekend with Round 6 at Nurburgring GP!