Jeddah Corniche Circuit

SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX

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October 09, 2014

 

Walk Racing looks at the penultimate round of a successful Formula Challenge campaign.

The GPVWC Formula Challenge series now moves to the Suzuka circuit in Japan, for the Japanese round of the championship. But what happened at Yas Marina? Here's a short summary of the racing that occurred last round at Abu Dhabi:

The immense heat at the Yas Marina circuit made getting a fast setup for the races very difficult indeed. But the drivers put together what they could, with the Walk drivers qualifying strongly with Petar Brlijak 3rd and Peter Duivelaar 11th.

For race 1 Brlijak got off to a solid start and despite some very good and consistent driving wasn't to pass the leaders, being in 3rd for most of the race until Eric Stranne spun to have him a well driven 2nd place. Meanwhile Duivelaar had a bit more of exciting race, as he fought among the drivers at the back end of the top ten. After some nice overtakes he managed to bring the car home in 8th place, gaining 3 spots on his starting position.

For race 2 with the reverse grid, the top 20 cars were switched around, so Brlijak lined up in 19th and Duivelaar in 13th. Brlijak had a good start and advanced quickly up the field. Unfortunately when he was coming up to attack 7th place he lost connection with the game and was forced to retire, ending what could have been a potential podium finish. Meanwhile Duivelaar managed to stay clear of any incidents and work his way up the field throughout the race, finding himself in 6th place by races end, advancing 7 places from where he started.

This round was a success for the team in the end, with Petar Brlijak being crowned the Championship winner for the 2014 Formula Challenge series, even though there still remains to be four races to be run.

So now we go to Suzuka for the penultimate round of the season. This track is one which will be challenging for the drivers, as it features a rhythm heavy first sector, which will test the driver's abilities to link the car smoothly from corner to corner. Sector two features the famed hairpin, where drivers will be tested on their braking and straight line speed. The Spoon curve with its double apex left hander will also be the key corner to get right to allow for overtaking down the back straight. Lastly is the third and final sector, which features the very fast 130R, which then leads to the final chicane, which will be one of the primary overtaking spots along with the first corner.

Walk Racing has high hopes for this round, hoping to secure the Constructors Championship. This would secure the double crown for this season with both the Drivers and Constructors Championships for the 2014 season of Formula Challenge.


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