2017 Formula Challenge Rounds 7 & 8 Race Reports

After our maiden win, we were anticipating the next rounds of the Formula Challenge season. Here are our race reports.

"2017 Formula Challenge Rounds 7 & 8 Race Reports" table of contents

  1. 2017 Formula Challenge Rounds 7 & 8 Race Reports
  2. Broadcasts
  3. Results

After the first third of the season, STAX Racing was second in the Constructors’ Championship. Having finished ten out of twelve races in the points, Menno Klont was 7th in the Drivers’ Championship table. He had two third-place finishes and one second-place finishes to his name so far. Chris Shepherd was in 5th position in the championship, having been on every step of the podium once this season. The next two rounds of the season were held in Canada (May 30th, 2017) and Great Britain (June 16th, 2017) and after our maiden win in Monaco we were looking forward to more strong points finishes. Here are our race reports.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (May 30th, 2017)

As announced on raceday, we were sporting a special livery for this race: Not only was it the first race after our début win in Monaco, it also was our first ever home race as a team. Additionally, this year marks the 150th birthday of Canada, which is why we were running a Maple Leaf livery.

Race 1: Menno started the wet race from fifth position. On lap two, he was able to overtake Noah Kutra going into the last chicane. After Jayden Wright spun on lap four, Menno was in third position momentarily. However, a small mistake from the Dutch driver meant that he had his countryman Roy Schroten right behind him. On lap six, Schroten was able to use Menno’s slipstream and overtook him before the final chicane. In the following laps, Schroten was able to pull away from Menno, who in turn had to defend from Mark Breslin, especially after overshooting the hairpin on lap 15. However, he was able to defend his position and finished fourth in Race One.

Apart from one moment, Chris had a very quiet race : After beating Maciej Mlynek to pole by .043 of a second, he soon was able to pull away from the field. At some point in the race, he was able to lap over one second faster than the rest of the drivers. The only “noteworthy” moment came on Lap 11 when he overshot the third corner. He narrowly escaped the wall and went on to win the race in dominant fashion. 

Chris taking the Chequered Flag, netting two wins in a row!

Race 2: The second race proved to be more action packed for both STAX Racing drivers. Menno started the race in seventh position. David Jundt was able to overtake him on lap 2 after an offtrack moment from Menno. On lap 7, Roy Schroten tried to overtake Liam de Waal who overshot Turn 6. Both drivers tangled and while Roy Schroten was able to continue his race, de Waal was stranded ontrack. When Menno came around the corner, it was too late to react to the EJ Engineering car and he crashed heavily with it. Menno’s suspension was severely damaged and he had to pit for repairs. He rejoined the race in 27th position and changed to dry weather tyres during the pitstop. While the racing line on the track still way very slippery, Menno’s gamble paid off as he was .5 seconds faster than the drivers in the lead on a clean lap with little traffic. In the end, Menno finished the second race in P19.

Chris had an eventful second race aswell. He started the race from tenth position. He had some nice fights in the first few laps and, after Menno made contact with de Waal, found himself in eight position. Nearing the end of the race, Chris gained a lot of space to the group of Jundt, Verzijl and Early battling infront of him. Jundt and Verzijl made contact going into Turn 3, forcing Verzijl onto the grass. When he rejoined the racetrack, the drivers were three-wide approaching Turn 5. Chris and Early touched, making further contact with Early. The ensuing chaos left Chris without Front and Rear Wing and he deemed the car to be too damaged to continue.

Silverstone Circuit (June 16th, 2017)

Race 1: Menno started the first race of the Birtish GP from P8 while Chris qualified in fourth position. After a multi-car pileup the STAX Racing drivers found themselves in P4 (Chris) and P5 (Menno) respectively. Both drivers were able to overtake Tuomas Koriala a few laps later. On lap 9, Roy Schroten spun out going through Maggots / Becketts which meant that Chris was now in second position, followed by Menno.  They finished the race in exactly these positions, gaining more valuable points in the process.

Race 2: Menno started the second race from P9. In Turn 2, he made contact with Paul Joseph and then crashed into the stationary Philipp Konig. Menno had to pit for a new front wing and rejoined the race in 27th position. When, on lap 7, it suddenly began to rain, Menno gambled and headed for the pit for intermediate tyres. While he was able to drive comparable laptimes to the leaders, the rain only lasted for a couple of minutes, which meant that Menno was out on track with the wrong tyres. Because of that he struggled to keep the car ontrack and finished down in 22nd position.

Chris started from tenth position, however after the first lap he was in fourth place already. Unfortunately, he lost a couple of places when he tried to overtake Verzijl going into Brooklands Corner on lap 3. He rejoined the race back in tenth position. On lap 5, Wildt and Mlynek made contact, which in turn spun around Koriala. Due to that, Chris was now in seventh position. He gained another spot when Wildt lost control of his car going into Becketts. In the following laps he overtook the two TR Bluvos Motorsports cars of Grech and Verzijl to finish in P4.

Chris chasing Roy Schroten in the last few laps of Race 2 of the British GP.

As the series is nearly halfway over, STAX Racing is second in the Constructors’ Championship behind Scuderia Basilea and infront of TR Bluvos Motorsports. Since the last race reports, Menno gained one place in the Drivers’ Championship and is now sixth in the table. Chris Shepherd jumped two drivers in the standings and now finds himelf in third position. The next round of the championship will be held in Hungary on June 27th, 2017. After that there will be a month-long break before the series heads to the Nuerburgring for the German GP on July 25th, 2017.

On the next page, you can find the broadcasts of both the Canadian and the British rounds. On the third page, you can find the qualifying and race results.

 

"2017 Formula Challenge Rounds 7 & 8 Race Reports" table of contents

  1. 2017 Formula Challenge Rounds 7 & 8 Race Reports
  2. Broadcasts
  3. Results

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