The last race of GPVWC’s 2017 Formula Challenge before the summer break was held in Hungary last week. Here is our race report.

Just one race before midseason, STAX Racing was second in the Constructors’ Championship behind Scuderia Basilea and in front of TR Bluvos Motorsports. Menno Klont was sixth in the Drivers’ Championship table while Chris Shepherd was third. STAX Racing was looking to end the first half of the season with a good result in Hungary.

Hungaroring (June 27th, 2017)

Race 1: Menno started the first race from 11th position, while Chris started further up the grid from P6. Chris had a tankslapper coming out of Turn 2 and made contact with Philipp Konig which meant that he entered Turn 3 in a 90 degrees angle. Most drivers were able to dodge the stationary STAX Racing car, but unfortunately there was the slightest of contacts with Menno which sent the Dutch driver spinning out aswell. Both drivers had to wait until the whole field passed them and rejoined the race in P26 (Shepherd) and P29 (Klont). What followed was an epic comeback from both drivers. They overtook many cars and by Lap 13, both STAX Racing cars were back in the points. After Mike Kwint crashed in the pitlane and Roy Verzijl had an unforced spin with one corner to go, Chris finished in P10, closely followed by Menno in P11.

Race 2: For the next race, Menno started from pole position with Chris starting from P2. Both drivers had a good start, but there was a multi car pileup further down the grid. Subsequently, the race was red flagged and restarted. Menno was able to defend the lead at the restart, but Chris lost P2 on the rundown to the first corner to Klemens Wildt. Both drivers again made contact before Turn 2 and Chris lost several more places. On lap 5, he was able to get by Wildt in Turn 2 but entered the next turn, a fast right corner, side-by-side with Bastian Paisler. The two drivers made contact and Chris crashed into the barriers. He retired the car on the spot. Meanwhile, Menno was still in the lead. He was closely followed by YTF1’s Johan Lindberg and had to defend his position time and time again. In the end, Menno was able to keep the lead from start to finish. This meant that Menno netted his first win for STAX Racing right before the midseason break.

After the first half of the season, Scuderia Basilea is on top of the Constructors’ Championship table with 433 points. STAX Racing is second with 316 points, now followed by THUnderdog (235 points). In the Drivers’ Championship, Menno Klont gained one place and is now in fifth position while Chris Shepherd lost one place and is now in fourth place.

We will post a short article about the team’s and the drivers’ opinions of the first half of the season shortly. On the next page, you can find the broadcast of the Hungarian round and, on the third page, you can find the qualifying and race results.