Round 7 - Canada (Montreal) | ||||||
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Round 7 - Canada (Montreal) | ||||||
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The fans went silent as the cars dragged around on the formation lap, finally taking up positions before the start/finish line. As the red lights flicked on, the whine of revving engines screamed into the air, a brief pause and then the screech of tyres as the cars pulled away towards the first corner. Janak had too much wheelspin and lost 3 places leaving Svehlik to lead through the corner. Tom Nielson had made a storming start, taking 4th from 8th on the grid while Janak's woes continued as Patzenbein defied possible team orders to pass his team leader - causing Digitech boss Oliver Roberts to get on the radio to his driver. What is said may never be known, but Patzenbein was soon waving Janak back through on lap 3 - leaving the door wide open for Nielson to pass as well.
On lap 4 Janak made a demon move at the hairpin to blast past Svehlik and get into the lead again. However chaos in the pack behind ensued when Nielson tried to get past a recovering Patzenbein and placed a wheel on the grass, spinning sideways in front of the snarling pack. Forced to jump on the brakes, Ziarnik and Diener further added to the confusion and once everyone had nipped past, Eric Van Der Veen had emerged in 4th. Maltez also lucked in on the chaos, blasting past Van Der Veen and then Strang to take 3rd at the start of lap 6. Later in that lap Strang missed a corner and was passed by Saupe and Patzenbein before rejoining the track just as Nielson was demoted to last place, his flat-spotted tyres holding him back.
Strang's misery continued as Axel Bruns, on a charge from 14th on the grid following fuel pump problems in qualifying, passed him to take 6th. As Strang attempted to take the place back they came across the spun Digitech of Saupe and had to take avoiding action, allowing Ziarnik and Diener to squeeze past and gain 3 places each. On lap 9 Patzenbein took 3rd spot from Maltez and Axel Bruns slammed the hammer down, taking Diener, Ziarnik and Maltez in a single lap to take 4th place.
At the front the leaders were tied together with a piece of string, Janak never more than half a second ahead of Svehlik until the Wild 13 got a tow down the final straight and ducked inside the Digitech through the final chicane and onto the pit straight.
Ziarnik had an eventful few laps at this point, passing Bruns for 4th only to be involved in a side by side battle with the Wild 13 driver for half a lap until they reached the hairpin. In a battle to see who would brake last, Ziarnik won then maybe wished he hadn't as he ploughed straight off the track, being passed by Bruns, Saupe and Maltez before he rejoined the track. A few laps later as he attempted to catch up he took the final chicane too fast and the crowd gasped as his car took off over the rumble strip, slamming down nose first and shattering the nosecone. Amazingly after a prolonged pit stop, he re-emerged onto the track.
During the stops Maltez made it up to 4th. Janak squeezed past Svehlik to take the lead just before his stop but it was for nothing, the Wild 13 emerging in the lead after taking on fresh rubber. Lap 34 saw Janak box Svehlik in behind a backmarker and force his car in front just as Diener was taking 3rd as Bruns pitted before pitting himself and allowing Maltez to move up. Alan Strang was staging an amazing recovery at this point, passing Patzenbein for 4th on lap 40 and Maltez for 3rd on lap 41. Maltez was obviously having trouble at this point, his gearbox taking on a mind of it's own and he was passed easily by Patzenbein on lap 44.
On lap 45 Diener misjudged the hairpin and got on the power too early, spinning into the gravel and spinning his wheels helplessly as he tried to dig himself out. The gravel that sprayed onto the track was the downfall of Patzenbein who gyrated on the hazard 2 laps later, allowing a few cars through. Alan Strang pitted on lap 49 allowing Maltez through to 3rd but on the next lap the Rocketship, which appeared to have sorted the gearbox out by itself, suddenly jumped to neutral from 4th gear, pitching the car backwards into a tyre wall at 120 mph. Maltez managed to pull himself, unhurt, out of the car and jump the barrier to safety.
After the last round of pitstops was completed Janak was around 10 seconds ahead of Svehlik with Strang back up to third. It remained the same at the flag with Bruns taking 4th, Patzenbien 5th, Saupe 6th, Nielson an eventual 7th, the Yapamotox pair of Bielawski and Ziarnik 8th and 9th and Van Der Veen a lapped 10th.
Digitech - Janak took pole for the event and despite a poor start managed to battle for the lead with Svehlik for the first two thirds of the race before pulling away and winning by 14 seconds. Patznebein and Saupe never got out of the rut that saw them 5th and 10th in qualifying - involved in most of the incidents in the race they did at least finish and picked up 5th and 6th at the flag.
Dutchy - Eric Van Der Veen started 13th but had a grandstand view of the trouble on lap 5 which allowed him to briefly hold 4th but he dropped back when the major players recovered to re-pass him. Last finisher in a lapped 10th place.
Graton GP - Nielson had an eventful race, making it up to 4th from 8th on the grid at the start he then caused the carnage on lap 5 by spinning in front of a number of cars which were bunched together. He flat-spotted his tyres in this escapade and was soon last. Retirements and mistakes from other drivers allowed him to claw his way back up to 7th at the flag.
Roadrunner - Stefan Diener qualified 9th but gained places in the first few laps, briefly holding 3rd during the first pit stops. Spun into gravel and out of race on lap 44.
Rocketship - The team's apparent decision to concentrate on one car for Maltez seems to be paying off; the young star putting in another great race performance. After fluffing the start and losing a couple of places he soon picked up speed, taking 3rd soon after the trouble on lap 5. Fell back to 5th before stops before taking 3rd again after them. The gearbox changing gears of it's own accord didn't help and he fell back again but problems for cars in front soon put him at the front of the 'other' race behind Janak and Svehlik. The gearbox problem seemed to cure itself and he pressed on but it eventually jammed itself into neutral while he attempted to take a corner in 4th. The car locked it's wheels and threw itself backwards into a tyre wall. Thankfully he was shaken but not hurt.
Team Ecosse - Only two cars for Canada, Strang starting 3rd but enduring a nightmarish first 10 laps, involved in the lap 5 chaos and then leaving the track he soon found himself in 9th. After a quiet mid-section of the race he pulled off a good recovery to pass Patzenbein and Maltez to take a safe final podium slot. Dryden started 15th but dropped to last and crashed on lap 5.
Wild 13 - Again a reduced strength team for the long haul to Canada, but both cars ran well, Svehlik taking the lead initially but unable to keep with Janak in the last third of the race. Bruns started 14th and was caught up in the 5th lap incident but put on a charge which saw him in a fantastic third before the pitstops. Faster stops by Strang and Maltez saw him back to fifth but he was promoted to 4th by the demise of Maltez.
Yapamotox - Qualifying held a nice present for the team, Ziarnik lining up 4th and Bielawski directly behind him on the grid in 6th, sandwiching the Digitech of Patzenbein. The race however wasn't so good and Ziarnik ran strongly before a catalogue of misfortune culminating in a dramatic crash which lost him his nosecone meant he ended up 9th at the end of the race, one place behind a steady Bielawski.