Round 15 - Japan (Suzuka)

Qualifying

 1. Rob Buis            The Flying Dutchmen     1m 26.820s
 2. Robert Schaftlein   SpeedBird               1m 27.415s
 3. Rene Smit           Omega Fusion            1m 27.607s
 4. Oliver Roberts      Team Analogistix        1m 27.609s
 5. Grant Reeve         Omega Fusion            1m 27.715s
 6. Mathias Kegelmann   SpeedBird               1m 28.672s
 7. Claudio Di Martino  DiMa Bros               1m 29.007s
 8. David Pennington    Penlight Renault        1m 29.127s
 9. Daniele Di Martino  DiMa Bros               1m 29.855s
10. Axel Bruns          SpeedGroup              1m 31.265s

Race - 53 Laps

 1. Rob Buis            The Flying Dutchmen     1h 24m 23.574s     20+1
 2. Oliver Roberts      Team Analogistix        1h 25m 19.037s     16
 3. Robert Schaftlein   SpeedBird               1h 25m 35.963s     12
 4. Mark Wendt	        Itchy and Scratchy      1h 25m 56.534s     10
 5. Mathias Kegelmann   SpeedBird               1h 26m 24.048s      8
 6. Rene Smit           Omega Fusion            1h 27m 30.608s      6
 7. Daniele Di Martino  DiMa Bros               1h 27m 48.517s      4
 8. Axel Bruns          SpeedGroup              1h 28m 02.253s      3
 9. David Pennington    Penlight Renault        1h 32m 35.128s      2
10. Grant Reeve         Omega Fusion                42 laps         1

11. Claudio Di Martino  DiMa Bros                   23 laps
Oliver Roberts has remained on good form in Japan and has stormed up to within 4 points of the second place man Rene Smit. An unlucky race was to blame for Rene's comparitively bad time as he found it difficult to get past the backmarkers after risking a 3 stop strategy. Cs were the order of the day for most at the start and then switching to Ds later on. Rene followed this pattern, and planned two stops for Cs and one for Ds. However, three unlucky crashes after his second pit stop quickly eroded his lead. A fast lap of 1m29.8 was the fastest sent in, but the extra speed gained by fresh Ds at the end of the race was not enough to offset the amount of time lost in the pits. Axel Bruns is another front runner that was not as fast as he would've liked, and quickly needs to regain good form, but his best results have been in the wet and he could find it difficult to find the pace necessary to steal second from under Rene's nose. Mathias is also still in the hunt, but the return of Mark Wendt and the excellent form of newcomer Robert Schaftlein, have deprived him of much needed points.

So Rene's bad performance has left his position in the table serverely weakened, and a good finish by any of the top 4 could walk away with second place. Next race is Adelaide and the nasty chicane at the start of the lap could well be the undoing of many a championship hopeful. Well, if that doesn't tempt fate, I don't know what will. :)