March 13, 2013
Published on tags: Superleague

 

Scott Bennett offers a glimpse of what to expect from what is anticipated to be a very wet Superleague Malaysian GP.
I hope everyone has invested in an umbrella; after witnessing both the Formula Challenge and Supercup races it would appear that rain is a certainty. Not that you needed to see the races to work that one out, with the track being Sepang and its infamous weather conditions. This means a string of repercussions throughout the field with how the weather is going to affect teams and drivers alike.

The biggest nightmare for the drivers will be getting the car balanced the way they like it to be under normal conditions; but rain will just exacerbate every tiny problem that a driver may have with the car - a slither too much understeer will become like trying to stop a freight train come turn in, whereas a bit too much oversteer and there will be slides that would make Ken Block jealous. Adaptable drivers will thrive, and those set in their ways are likely to be snaking around, lucky to get into the back end of the points, should they escape a DNF.

Lee Morris is one of the drivers that stands out among the field in what is likely to be a soggy race, as one of the more experienced RFE drivers having used the weather effects in other leagues with moderate success and a string of strong finishes. This experience is likely to prove invaluable in Thursday's race, along with a thirst for success after his early departure from Albert Park.

Morris' team mate Dave Carr-Smith is another individual who will be one to watch throughout the race, and not just because he won in Australia, oh no. One cannot ignore the adaptability of Carr-Smith after showing that any car he touches has the capability to be a race winner with wins in almost every series GPVWC has to offer in a range of cars. Along with strong performances in the infamous Jerez test I believe it would be safe to say that a change in weather tomorrow would, in Carr-Smith's eyes, be barely more than a graphics change rather than a physics change.

Lukas Euler had his work cut out in Melbourne and was ultimately unable to stop Carr-Smith's charge, but it is still early in the season and a title defence is still well on the cards. Strong backing from the Midnight team providing a strong car and vast setup knowledge is likely to really help launch both Euler and team mate Cooper back in front of the Nordsjoen cars where, at least on paper, they should be.

The boys at Torrent Motorsports certainly showed that despite the car's obvious shortcomings on paper, they are here to fight and make an impact with strong finishes in an under-developed car. However with Malaysia looming, and a large upgrade package strapped to the car the shortcomings are going to be less prominent, providing they have invested in the correct areas.

Third place at Albert Park of course went to last year's 'Best of the Rest' award winner, Ruud Heesterbeek, with an overall strong Nijo finish hindered by his team mate's unfortunate engine failure. Nijo once again come to Sepang with more upgrades on an already strong car, putting them in good stead for another strong performance from both drivers. The nature of Sepang's long sweeping corners, combined with the ludicrously high chance of rain means that the strong downforce package of the Nijo could be the more favourable package compared to that of the lower drag Midnight. I would expect these guys to causing the Midnight team some headaches come race day.