June 05, 2018

 

The stars of tomorrow were in action once again tonight with the eighth round of the GPVWC Formula Challenge series, the entry level of career ladder action taking place on the high speed Red Bull Ring in Austria.

The stars of tomorrow were in action again with tonight?s Austrian round of the GPVWC Formula Challenge, taking place on the high speed and rolling hills of the Red Bull Ring, where action was aplenty and a change at the top of the championship took place.

Qualifying saw the usual suspect at the sharp end of the field again with Matthew Williams taking another pole position for Cenobite, a tenth fo a second ahead of the STAX Racing duo of Chris Shepherd and Adrian Campfield. Championship leader Chris Butcher could only muster sixth place, a disapointing performance measured against his high expectations.

Race one may well be seen as a turning point in the 2018 championship with a brilliant win from Chris Shepherd, having taken the lead after a fantastic start and then withstanding 18 laps of pressure from Matthew Williams. It was the mark of a driver at the top of his game, not making any errors whilst others fell to the wayside. Those included Chris Butcher and Adrian Campfield who collided together whilst battling for third place. The resulting damage put Campfield out of the race whilst Butcher could only recover to 21st after a pit stop, a massive dent in the Englishman?s championship aspirations. This gave Harry Graham (Downforce) the perfect opportunity for his first ever GPVWC podium - an opportunity he gladly took with both hands.??

Wesley Stefano (MDR) was rewarded with reverse pole after finishing 13th in race one and duly held onto it at the start as chaos ensued towards the rear of the field, a massive pile up causing a big shake up in the order, with Butcher gaining ten positions to eleventh whilst Shepherd went the other way down to 18th. Was the Red Arrow?s luck to change once more? Unfortunately no, a collision with Williams just after half way placed Butcher behind Shepherd once more, a position he could not recover from eventually finishing in tenth place with Shepherd two places ahead in eighth. Back up from the Stefano would eventually relinquish the lead to Tom Davison (Downforce) before losing second to Luke Maguire (Shift Gear) later on in the same lap.

Maguire would then showcase his talent with a majestic pass around the outside of Davison into Turn 2, before adding to his win earlier this year in Baku with victory here, winning by five seconds from the Downforce driver completing a fantastic race meet for the team after Graham?s third place in race one. Behind there was a battle royal between Stefano, Ric Scott (GPVWC Academy), Michal Galka (Schubert), Thomas Andriamiharisoa (Royal Blue) and Williams for the final step of the podium. Scott and Stefano traded places lap after the lap for the finalfive laps with both Williams and Andriamiharisoa lurking just behind, waiting for the mistake that would never happen. In the end it was the MDR driver Stefano who took home the spoils and a well deserved third place.??

The next round takes place in two weeks time at another high speed track in Silverstone for the British GP.



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