After a long winter break, STAX Racing travelled to Melbourne, Australia for the first round of the 2018 GPVWC Formula Challenge Season.

We entered the round with our temporary pre-season livery, and both drivers were optimistic that they had the pace to fight for podium finishes. Chris Shepherd was able to put his car on Pole Position, but a penalty from last year meant he had to start the race from P5, one spot behind his new teammate and GPVWC debutant Adrian Campfield.

Race Reports

Race 1: Chris was able to pass Adrian at the start. On the back-straight, Sandeep Chodha and Ivan Leonov made contact, which enabled Chris to overtake both of them. He was now running second behind Chris Butcher. Having clean air, Chris was able to push and drive the fastest lap of the race. However, on Lap 4, he overshot the first corner, and upon returning on the race track made contact with the outside wall. As a result, his car suffered heavy suspension damage. Because of that, Chris had to concede his place to both Adrian and Philipp Konig a few corners later. Due to the damage to his car, Chris wasn’t able to follow the pace of the front-runners, he was however able to defend P4 from Angelone: The Colombian driver was able to close the gap to Chris, but found it impossible to pass the STAX Racing driver.

Compared to Chris, Adrian had a more quiet Race 1. Having lost his position to Chris at the start, he was able to closely follow the cars in front of him. After he gained P2 due to Chris’ mistake, he was able to keep Philipp Konig at bay and finished in a very strong P2 on his début race in GPVWC.

Race 2: For the second race, Chris started from P7. He again made a very good start and was able to pass two cars early on: He overtook Marc Veit on the outside going into Turn 9, and on lap 3 he gained another spot after passing Patrick Wannemuller. He closed the gap to Angelone in front of him and followed him closely going into the fast chicane after the back-straight. Unfortunately, he lost front grip due to dirty air, went wide and spun into the barriers. He rejoined the race in P7, but the car was heavily damaged and barely drivable. This lead to Chris having another heavy crash shortly after. The Englishman pitted and finished the race in P20.

Adrian didn’t have much luck in Race 2 either. After a scrappy start, he was able to pass various drivers such as Thomas Andriamiharisoa on the outside going into T13. However, on Lap 3, he went wide going into T11 and as a result he touched the Anti Cuts on the inside of the next corner. Adrian’s car was launched into the air and towards the barriers. He rejoined the race in 19th position, and finished the race 21st after having to pit for repairs.

After the first round of the season, STAX Racing is third in the Constructors’ Championship. Adrian Campfield is currently fifth in the Drivers’ Championship while Chris Shepherd is ninth.

The next race of the season will be held in Shanghai, China, on March 13th. Below, you can find the broadcast of the Australian round and the results table.

 

Broadcast

Results