Walk Racing - Round 1 - Supercup

This week, the 2015 GPVWC Supercup championship kicked off with Round 1, held at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, Australia.

The 16 turn, 3.295 mile circuit, is laid out around a gorgeous park land, and is the traditional opening race in modern-day Formula One.

Walk Racing have entered two top-line drivers in the series, namely VCC Champion Risto Kappet, and Ruud Heesterbeek, with both driving the gorgeous black-and-yellow liveried Walk Racing single seater.

Qualifying Report
After a strong practice, unfortunately qualifying didn't back-up this pace-
8th Ruud Heesterbeek
18th Risto Kappet

Risto said "before the race I had very encouraging pace, in the practice leading up to qualifying, I was 2nd fastest and I never expected to get so fast in the car, within such a short time. With thanks to Ruud, we had everything covered for the race and it was looking to be an amazing night. In qualifying, there was pretty much only one chance for everyone to do a lap before the rain started. I was one of the first out of the pits so I should have seized the opportunity, but I spun on the outlap, my own mistake, and then I was out of sync for the whole session, and never got a decent lap in."

8th placed Ruud said "I went out late in qualifying, to get some clear track. Unfortunately when I did my first lap it started to rain, while others had already put in a lap in almost dry conditions. I could improve my time later in the qualifying session on a drying track, but only managed P8".

Race 1 Report
18th Risto Kappet
DNF Ruud Heesterbeek

"Race 1 I had a good start, was picking off drivers with ease as the rain came down again. The correct thing to do, would have been to pit for wet tyres, as soon as possible, but I stayed out for 3 laps too long, hoping for the rain to ease, or thinking the slicks can take a bit of rain (like in TPS VCC) but that was completely wrong, and because of that, I lost maybe half a minute compared to those who pitted soon."

"I also did a mistake of taking too much fuel so I was running heavy compared to most drivers. Then most of the race was held in the wet, so it was an awesome experience. In the completely new and very challenging conditions, I started picking off opponents and pushing the powerful car in the very slippery conditions, meanwhile observing the weather patterns (rain was coming and going all the time) to try and make sense of the script. I had made it as high as 8th place at around 80% race distance I think, which would have provided me 2nd on the grid for the reverse grid, but there was a break in the weather pattern, it started drying fast and I pitted at the exact moment when the dry tyres would have been perfect for the track. Since my wets were wearing and might not have made it to the end, I pitted. The moment I stopped in the box, the rain picked up again! Because of this, I lost a whole lap doing the track with slicks in total wet conditions, also destroying the car and having to pit again. Had I just pitted for new wets like everyone else, it would have been top 10 finish 100%. Finished the race a lap behind in the exact same position where i qualified".

Unfortunately Ruud didn't finish, he picks up the story. "The race didn't go much better. I switched to rain tyres one lap too late and found myself stuck behind slower cars. I had an excursion off track and lost even more time and when the track was drying I decided to go onto the slicks early in a desperate attempt to make up for the lost time. Right at the moment I was in the pits it started to rain again and I had to come back in again the next lap. It was so slippery in the pit entrance that I spun back on track, leaving me nowhere to go and I retired from the race."

Race 2 Report
19th Risto Kappet
DNF Ruud Heesterbeek

Risto said after the race, "it was a question of what tyres to start on, but again I made the complete opposite call to the correct one, it said the track was wet, and it was on the warm-up lap, but it never rained in the race. Almost everyone started on slicks but I had not only wet tyres, but also wet setup with high downforce. After pitting on lap 1 I was hopelessly behind and could not make any progress with the setup as it was".

Heesterbeek continued "In Race 2 we were expecting it would start to rain again, as it did so in almost every session before. I was ready to start the race on wet tyres, but at the last moment I switched because the weather was bright and sunny. I didn't have the correct wing settings for the dry though. I was trying to get passed people quickly, but when passing Wiesenmuller I was a bit too impatient and lost the rear of the car while trying to make a move in the inside. I damaged my car and had to retire from this race as well".

After the races, we spoke to all involved-

Risto Kappet "So in return of all the practice and effort, and not quitting, I got rewarded with exactly zero points! I don't think I will ever get over this awful experience and shameful display. But the season is very long, the level of competition is amazing and motivating and there is no reason why good things should not start happening in the next round at Bahrain, where our season starts."

Ruud Heesterbeek "This poor event means that we're behind in the championship of course, but I?m not panicking yet. The results of the race were very mixed up, meaning that other title contenders did not get the amount of points they hoped for either, and the teams that are at the top now will maybe not stay when the season progresses. I know we have the pace and if we prepare well for the next events I?m sure we can get good points on the board consistently. After all our aim is to win both titles this year".

Team Boss Mr. C "I have the best drivers on the grid and maybe GPVWC. Even though lady luck sent her ugly sister I am not worried".

We wish our drivers all the very best in practice ahead of the next race.