The last two rounds of the season were held in Interlagos and the Yas Marina Circuit. Here are our race reports.

With just two more rounds in this year’s Formula Challenge season, STAX Racing was second in the Constructors’ Championship behind Scuderia Basilea and ahead of THUnderdog. Menno Klont was fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, ahead of Chris Shepherd. Liam de Waal, who drove at the Belgian round for STAX Racing, dropped to 15th in the championship. As mentioned before, Chris Shepherd asked to be released from his contract before the Brazilian round. We signed Mateusz Ziubinski to race in the last two rounds for STAX Racing.

Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (October 31st, 2017)

Race 1: Menno started the first race from 14th position but was in P8 already after the first lap. On lap 6 he had to run wide in Turn 4 as Bruno Sousa Ferreira spun directly infront of Menno. However, the Dutch driver didn’t loose any position because of that. In the final few laps, David Jundt was able to close the gap to Menno and put him under pressure, but ultimatevly he was unable to overtake the STAX Racing driver. Menno finished the race in P8. Mateusz had to start from P27 due to a penatly from the Mexican round. However, after the first lap he was 16th already. On lap 2 and 3, he was able to overtake both Downforce Racing cars. Another lap later, he was right under the gearbox of Fabian Rudde. Unfortunately, the drivers made contact under breaking for the first turn. Mateusz left the track for the first chicane and lost a place to Philipp König. However, one lap later, Mateusz was able to get back both places from König and Rudde. He then overtook Bruno Sousa Ferreira to finish 10th.

Race 2: Menno started the second race from P5. Ahead of him, Bruno Sousa Ferreira had a very bad start, forcing David Jundt to take evasive actions, which meant that Menno entered the first corner in P3. At the end of the lap, he was able to pass König into P2. On lap 5, he had to start defendig his position on the Start-Finish straight. Maciej Mlynek was able to pass Menno in T4, but in the following laps the Dutch driver sucessfully defended his position against both Gomes and Schroten. Unfortunately, this meant that Menno had excessive tyre wear, and in the closing laps Schroten, Gomas and Verzijl were able to pass him. Menno finished the race in P5. Mateusz started the race from P3. As previously mentioned, Bruno Sousa Ferreira had a very bad start, which meant that Mateusz was in second position going into the first corner. At the end of the lap, he was able to pass König for the lead. In the opening stages of the race, Mateusz was able to build a gap to second placed Menno Klont. Once Mlynek was able to pass Menno, the Scuderia Basilea driver closed the gap little by little and overtook Mateusz on Lap 11. This would be the only driver able to catch Mateusz in his first round for STAX Racing, who subsequently finished second.

Yas Marina Circuit (November 14th, 2017)

For the last race of the season, we planned to run another special livery. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, this was not possible.

Race 1: Menno started the second-to-last race of the season from 6th position. In the second lap, Menno was forced to cut the corner to avoid hitting Matthew Marquard in front of him. Another lap later, Menno again ran wide in the same corner. To avoid a penalty, Menno served a voluntary drive through later in the race. He rejoined the track in P6, but lost another couple of places to finish the race in P11. Mateusz started the race from P12. He closed the door for Daniele Brambilla going into T2, which resulted in a half spin across the track for Mateusz. Thomas Andriamiharisoa was unable to avoid the STAX Racing driver and both drivers crashed heavily. Mateusz rejoined the race in P27, but regained seven positions in the first lap alone. In the following laps, he was able to fight his way through the field to finish the race in P8.

Race 2: Reverse grid rules meant that Menno started the second race from P3. He made his intentions clear when he lined up the grid in an aggressive angle and had a very good start but made contact with Matthew Clipp in the first turn. Menno was forced wide and rejoined the race in third position. In Turn 9, second placed Daniele Brambilla rear-ended the leader Mateusz Dabrowski. Showing good sportsmanship, he waited until Dabrowski was able to rejoin the race. This meant that Menno was now leading the race. He was able to keep in front for the remaining laps and thus won the last race of the season. Mateusz played an important part in Menno’s victory: He started from P6 and gained two places at the start. After the Brambilla / Dabrowski incident, he was second behind Menno. In the following laps, he had to defend against Butcher and later against Marquard. The YTF1 driver made a last ditch effort in the final corner, but in the end STAX Racing was able to celebrate a 1-2 victory in the final race of the season.

STAX Racing finished second in the Constructors’ Championship of the 2017 Formula Challenge season. Menno Klont finished fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, ahead of Chris Shepherd. Liam de Waal, who drove the Belgian round for STAX Racing, was 16th in the championship. Mateusz Ziubinski, who drove in Brazil and Abu Dhabi for us, finished the season in P22.

We will post a end-of-season review with comments from both Chris and Menno shortly. On the next page, you can find the broadcasts of the Brazilian and Abu Dhabi rounds. On the third page, you can find the qualifying and race results.