2013 Challenge Hungarian Grand Prix

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**2013 Challenge Hungarian Grand Prix**
Race details
Round 4 of the 2013 Formula Challenge season

Date	9th April, 2013
Event	2013 Challenge Hungarian Grand Prix
Location	Hungaroring, Mogyoród, Hungary
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.722 mi / 4.381 km
Distance	18 laps, 48.996 mi / 78.858 km (each race)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Emanuel Gaczella	Storm Racing Team
Time	1:28.619
Race One Podium
First	Emanuel Gaczella	Storm Racing Team
Second	Thomas Jacobs	United Racers Motorsports
Third	Pedro Melim	SimInk Motorsport
Race One Fastest Lap
Driver	Emanuel Gaczella	Storm Racing Team
Time	1:28.682 (on lap 5)
Race Two Podium
First	Patrick Fogel	Fogel Motorsports
Second	Matt Clipp	Royal Blue Racing
Third	Riku Sarpila	Measuric Racing
Race Two Fastest Lap
Driver	Emanuel Gaczella	Storm Racing Team
Time	1:28.836 (on lap 17)

The 2013 Challenge Hungarian Grand Prix – the fourth round of the 2013 season – took place at the Hungaroring near Mogyoród, on the 9th of April. It was the first running of the Challenge Hungarian Grand Prix The round consisted of 2 races of 18 laps each.

With the exception of Emanuel Gaczella, who, as per tradition, claimed fastest lap in both races, as well as pole, the round appeared to be very much an American affair, with both victories going to American drivers from American teams. Race 1 originally went to Danny Asbury in the Rapid Raptor Racing, just, in only his second round competing in FC, while Race 2 was won by Patrick Fogel of Fogel Motorsports, delivering on the promise that the team had pretty much shown from its début at Malaysia. Fogel's victory was also distinctive in the fact that he started from pole in Race 2; this was the first time in 2013 that anyone had won Race 2 from pole, and was also significant that Fogel's pole was the first one determined by new rules relating to the procedure of reversing the grid for Race 2.

However, as the field geared itself up for the next round, news came through of a raft of penalties relating to driver transgressions at Hungary. The shear volume of penalties not only delayed the ruling of the disciplinary committee by many days but also almost completely changed the outcome of the race. Asbury was stripped of his win. Gaczella, who had finished Race 1 just metres behind the American, inherited victory, though would himself be penalised in the following race. In Race 1, only 7 drivers out of 33 finishers escaped without sanction, though these sanctions ranged from Warnings to a full-blown disqualification. Most drivers were served with time penalties due to repeatedly driving outside the limits of the track.

Despite what was relatively a scruffy round for Gaczella, which, until the sanctions came into force, saw him fail to win at least one race for the first time this season, and a spectacular tangle on the main straight with SimInk Motorsport's Pedro Melim, which saw the Portuguese newcomer arrive at the barriers at the far end of the turn 1 run-off backwards and upside down, the complete absence of his closest championship rivals Ari Nieminen and Ryan Gilmore saw Gaczella's lead in the championship rocket above 50 points.

The Hungarian round was also highly significant as it saw the introduction of new regulations designed to make the start of each race slightly less explosive, both in terms of cars and parts flying in all directions, and angry comments flying about the league's forums and chatrooms. The introduction of Launch Control was not as perfect as some hoped, but certainly saw a considerable improvement made to race starts, though a string of large accidents throughout the opening laps still claimed a significant number of cars.

Hungary also marked the first occasion in the season when the track was absolutely bone dry throughout qualification and both races. The hot conditions put a great emphasis on tyre management, with some drivers faring better than others. Some drivers took the normally unorthodox decision to schedule tyre stops.

Report

Background

The biggest topic of conversation heading into the round was certainly the introduction of Launch Control, which all drivers would be obligated to use at the start of all races from the Hungaroring onwards. It was hoped by eliminating wheel spin, drivers would depart their grid slots at a consistent speed; in all races previously, there had been a calamitous mix of some drivers overdoing their starts, either spinning their tyres too long or simply spinning their cars, and others who were too cautious, and were accused of dawdling off the line, forcing faster drivers to swerve, invariably into each other, trying to avoid them. Unfortunately, after the changes were introduced, drivers reported that the Launch Control could cause the cars to bog down, depending on the ratio of the lower gears. Though steps were taken, which appeared to resolve this, the problem re-emerged on race day and there were still a few tangles. That said, the race starts saw barely anything close to the normal level of carnage, and most drivers, though not all, agreed that it was a huge improvement.

Another new rule introduced for the Formula – along with the World Sport Series – saw an element of randomness added to the Reverse Grid for Race 2. Up until the previous round, the Reverse Grid had always been formed by reversing the finishing order of the top 15 from Race 1. Citing a concern that drivers may aim to finish no higher than 15th on a track like Monaco, thereby guaranteeing them pole for the second race and an exceptionally high chance for race victory, a decision was made to introduce a system that would see the reverse grid for Race 2 be formed from anywhere between the top 15 and top 20 finishers from Race 1, with the exact number being randomly selected. Therefore, none of the top 20 finishers could be assured of their place on the grid for Race 2, thereby removing any tactical element and encouraging drivers to simply battle for as much points as possible. In practice, Patrick Fogel was a perfect example; finishing 19th at the end of Race 1, Fogel found himself on pole for Race 2 and was able to convert this position to a race win.

Hungary saw yet more changes to the driver and team line ups, with several missing from the grid, but the overall numbers of drivers present remained just as high. Most significant were the absences of Ari Nieminen and Ryan Gilmore, closest rivals of championship leader Gaczella. With Gaczella's teammate Adrian McNaughton also absent, only 2 of the top 5 drivers in the championship, heading into the round, actually participated.

Among those also missing included Martin Palm, after an excellent début at the previous round. His absence completed the gaping hole left by the lack of Karjala Racing at the event. Oscar Hardwick, who had won at the previous round, had made quite a name of himself and had officially ascended to Supercup, ending his FC career. As it happened, Hardwick provided commentary for the race. Another driver, prominent in previous rounds and who had also made quite as name of himself, this time for the wrong reasons, was Ghovand Keanie. Keanie had been effectively banned from taking part in official meetings, though stayed on with Vod:Bul, helping develop setups for Tanskanen Racing.

Jarl Teien, who had made only a fleeting appearance at Austria for the infant nFinity team, both Antec drivers Sven Schubert and Jan Schwitter, Viking Racing's Lee Palmer, Velocity Racing's Tim-Oliver Wagner, United Racers' Simon Melhuish, Ice Cold Racing's Mike Bell, and Nadir Khan of the Multi21 Racing Team, were also all missing from the grid.

Other changes involved newcomers Pedro Melim, racing in place of Ryan Gilmore at SimInk and Timi Korkala, replacing Keanie at Sisu Grand Prix; Jonatan Acerclinth deputising for Scott Sovik at Optimum SimRacing; Matt Richards making his début racing in place of Alejandro Fernandez at DSRacing; James Snuggs making his début at Leviaxxan Racing in place of Alex Rolls, and Doug Hilliard returning to deputise for Ed Williams at Tanskanen.

Also marking their return were Ric Scott at JRT, and Brandon Warren for Rapid Raptor Racing, both racing for the first time since Australia. Erik Tveit returned for Ice Cold Racing, having missed Austria. Newcomer Wayne Reed marked the return of Midori Motorsports, again for the first time since Australia.

Other newcomers included Brad Wright in the podium-winning début of the Bower Allen Racing team; Jon Hicken driving for nFinity, and thereby marking their first race start, and Hansko Mebius in the WCS Racing team, which had unofficially replaced the non-starting SlipStream Racing entry in the series.

In terms of grid penalties being carried over from previous rounds, Keanie would have had a 15-place penalty for the second round in a row, had he not been banned from competing, while for those who were present, Calvin Hermse and Tuomas Koriala had 5-place penalties. This also applied to Ed Williams, Adrian McNaughton and Jan Schwitter, although neither three participated in this race.

Qualifying

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Race One

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Race Two

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Post-race

The spirit after the race was akin to a free buoy, bobbing along quite happily, though dragging along below it a rusty old chain of acrominity. In races past, this chain would have tethered it firmly in place, but even now, it still served to drag the buoyant mood down somewhat. There was a slight weight of guilt and bitterness slapped atop the mood, with a number of accidents during the races, including Dave van Gils appearing to deliberately wreck Jon Hicken after the end of Race 2. The potential threat of penalties circled over several drivers and Gaczella in particular apologised over his accident with Melim — SimInk no doubt rueing having both their drivers, matched in pace and high up the order; sent barrel-rolling into Turn 1 at different points in Race 2. Despite this, most apologies were offered and accepted in good nature. For the most part, the acronymity unfortunately related once again to the start of the race, and centered again, primarily, around Tuomas Koriala who had once more had both his races ruined at their start, despite the changes introduced. Koriala announced his furious departure from the league, taking Sisu Grand Prix with him. However, after the dust settled, Koriala reneged in part; while Koriala withdrew from competing, himself, Sisu remained, with a completely new lineup for the following round. The aftermath of the round also saw logiX Razer Motorsports part company with Benjamin Zerche, though the reasons behind this were less clear.

Then, as dawn broke on the day of the Spanish race, the GPVWC administration released the details of sanctions related to the Hungarian race. A staggeringly large number of sanctions were made, affecting most of the field. By far the most common crime was exceeding track limits; drivers taking advantage, deliberately or not, of the Hungaroring's very generous tarmac runoffs. This infringement alone accounted for 13 sanctions relating to Qualifying, 25 relating to Race 1 and a further 13 relating to Race 2. Of the 38 sanctions served for exceeding the track limits during the two races, 9 resulted in warnings alone, 6 were deemed severe enough to incur 30 second penalties, and the sanction against Koriala was so severe that it saw him disqualified. The remainder received 20 second penalties. 20 second penalties were also handed out for 4 other violations, which involved Mikko Jakonen cutting the pitlane exit in Race 1 and Gaczella, Zerche and van Gils causing accidents in Race 2 – van Gils' specifically after the race. Zerche and van Gils managed to be hit with 20 second penalties twice in Race 2, as both had also been found to have repeatedly exceeded track limits.

Scarcely any finishing positions remained the same following the rulings. In Race 2, of those on the lead lap, only race winner Patrick Fogel retained the same position as he did when he originally crossed the line. Unsurprisingly, the changes saw some major winners and losers. Symbolically, besides Asbury losing his Race 1 victory, Wopke Hoekstra and Brad Wright lost their podiums in Race 2. Pedro Melim, in his first race in GPVWC, ultimately secured a podium instead. Matt Clipp and Riku Sarpila were promoted onto the podium in Race 2. While several drivers lost some significant points, the sanctions saw Kevin Westphal in Race 1 and teammate Zerche in Race 2 lose all their points. This also meant that Jonatan Acerclinth had his first career points taken away from him. Conversely, their losses saw Calvin Hermse in Race 1 and Jakonen and Thomas Jacobs in Race 2 all ascend into point paying positions. Some were only marginally affected, in either loss or gain. Several drivers were given time penalties, but due to their position on the track at the end of each race, did not lose any positions at all, or in fact still gained some due to greater penalties afflicting those ahead of them. Despite being demoted from 4th to 6th in Race 2, by inheriting the Race 1 victory, Gaczella benefitted from a net increase of 2 points as a result of the penalties.

Cumulative penalty table

Driver	Team	Penalties	Violations	Notes
Tuomas Koriala	Sisu	Disqualification (Race 1), 5 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits* (Race 1)	*More than 90% of laps
Dave van Gils	Edonis	+5 grid places, +20 seconds (Race 1), +40 seconds** (Race 2), 4 Penalty Points	Pit Lane Etiquette (Qualifying), Exceeding Track Limits (Race 1 & Race 2), Post-Session Conduct (Race 2)	Two separate offences; *More than 33% of laps; demoted from 9th to 10th (Race 1) and 9th to 15th (Race 2)
Brad Wright	Bower Allen	+5 grid places, +20 seconds (Race 1), +30 seconds (Race 2), 4 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying, Race 1* & Race 2**)	*More than 33% of laps; demoted from 17th to 18th (Race 1); **More than 66% of laps; demoted from 3rd to 7th (Race 2)
Benjamin Zerche	logiX Razer	+5 grid places, +40 seconds**, 3 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying & Race 2***), Punting (Race 2)	Two separate offences; *More than 33% of laps; demoted from 13th to 21st (Race 2)
Timi Korkala	Sisu	+15 grid places**, 3 Penalty Points	Escape & Rejoin (Qualifying), Cutting Pitlane Exit (x2, Race 1)*****	Two separate offences, *** +10 grid places due to not finishing race
Jeremy Allen	Fogel	+5 grid places, +30 seconds (Race 1), 3 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying & Race 1****)	****More than 66% of laps; demoted from 10th to 14th (Race 1)
Wopke Hoekstra	Optimum	+5 grid places, +20 seconds (Race 1), +20 seconds (Race 2), 3 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying, Race 1* & Race 2*)	***More than 33% of laps; demoted from 13th to 16th (Race 1); demoted from 2nd to 4th (Race 2)
Kevin Westphal	logiX Razer	+5 grid places, +20 seconds (Race 1), +20 seconds (Race 2), 3 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying, Race 1* & Race 2*)	***More than 33% of laps; demoted from 18th to 22nd (Race 2)
Jonatan Acerclinth	Optimum	+5 grid places, +20 seconds (Race 1), +20 seconds (Race 2), 3 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying, Race 1* & Race 2*)	***More than 33% of laps; net gain from 20th to 19th (Race 1); demoted from 14th to 16th (Race 2)
Jack Nicholls	JRT	+5 grid places, +30 seconds (Race 1), 3 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying & Race 1****)	****More than 66% of laps; demoted from 8th to 12th (Race 1)
Mike Schroten	Wauters	+30 seconds (Race 1), +20 seconds (Race 2), 3 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Race 1** & Race 2*)	**More than 66% of laps; demoted from 18th to 21st (Race 1); *More than 33% of laps; demoted from 16th to 17th
Wayne Reed	Midori	+10 grid places**, 2 Penalty Points	Escape & Rejoin, Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying)	**Two separate offences
Danny Asbury	Rapid Raptor	+5 grid places, +20 seconds (Race 1), 2 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying & Race 1***)	***More than 33% of laps; demoted from 1st to 4th (Race 1)
Jon MacLean	Measuric	+5 grid places, +20 seconds (Race 1), 2 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying & Race 1***)	***More than 33% of laps; demoted from 1st to 4th (Race 1)
Ollie Woods	Velocity	+5 grid places, +20 seconds (Race 1), 2 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying & Race 1***)	***More than 33% of laps; demoted from 30th to 31st (Race 1)
Matt Richards	DSRacing	+20 seconds (Race 1), +20 seconds (Race 2), 2 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Race 1* & Race 2*)	***More than 33% of laps; demoted from 21st to 24th (Race 2)
Jon Hicken	nFinity		Exceeding Track Limits (Race 1* & Race 2*)	***More than 33% of laps; demoted from 12th to 15th (Race 1); demoted from 6th to 10th (Race 2)
Simon Smith	BackMarker	+30 seconds (Race 1), 2 Penalty Points	Exceeding Track Limits (Race 1****)	****More than 66% of laps; net gain from 25th to 24th (Race 1)
Matt Webb	Epic Racing	+5 grid places, Warning, 1 Penalty Point	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying & Race 1******)	******More than 20% of laps, Warning given
Calvin Hermse	Wauters	+20 seconds (Race 2), Warning, 1 Penalty Point	Exceeding Track Limits (Race 1**** & Race 1*)	****More than 20% of laps, Warning given (Race 1); *More than 33% of laps; demoted from 10th to 12th (Race 2)
Patrick Fogel	Fogel	+5 grid places, 1 Penalty Point	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying)
Louis Wedekind	Epic	+5 grid places, 1 Penalty Point	Exceeding Track Limits (Qualifying)
Mikko Jakonen	Tanskanen	+20 seconds (Race 1), 1 Penalty Point	Cutting Pitlane Exit (Race 1)	Net gain from 24th to 23rd (Race 1)
Emanuel Gaczella	Storm	+20 seconds (Race 2), 1 Penalty Point	Avoidable Contact (Race 2)	Demoted from 4th to 6th (Race 2)
Menno Klont	Edonis	+20 seconds (Race 1), Warning, 1 Penalty Point	Exceeding Track Limits (Race 1* & Race 2****)	*More than 33% of laps; net gain from 21st to 20th (Race 1); ****More than 20% of laps, Warning given (Race 2)
David Fidock	SimInk	+20 seconds (Race 1), Warning, 1 Penalty Point	Exceeding Track Limits (Race 1* & Race 2****)	*More than 33% of laps; (Race 1); ****More than 20% of laps, Warning given (Race 2)
James Snuggs	Leviaxxan Racing	+20 seconds (Race 1), 1 Penalty Point	Exceeding Track Limits (Race 1***)	***More than 33% of laps; demoted from 29th to 30th (Race 1)
Doug Hilliard	Tanskanen	+20 seconds (Race 1), 1 Penalty Point	Exceeding Track Limits (Race 1***)	***More than 33% of laps; demoted from 26th to 27th (Race 1)
Riku Sarpila	Measuric	Warning (x2)	Exceeding Track Limits****** (Race 1 & Race 2)	******More than 20% of laps, Warning given
Brandon Warren	Rapid Raptor	Warning	Exceeding Track Limits****** (Race 1)	******More than 20% of laps, Warning given
Ric Scott	JRT
Thomas Jacobs	United Racers