2012 Challenge Dutch Grand Prix

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**2012 Challenge Dutch Grand Prix**
Race details
2012 Formula Challenge season

Date	14th March, 2012
Event	2012 Challenge Dutch Grand Prix
Location	TT Circuit Assen, Drenthe
Lap Distance	2.824 mi / 4.545 km
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Emanuel Gaczella	Storm Racing Team
Time	1:42.035
Feature Race
First	Emanuel Gaczella	Storm Racing Team
Second	Jarl Teien	Hene
Third	Jim Parisis	Torrent Motorsports
Fastest Lap	Jarl Teien	Hene
Fastest Lap	1:42.339
Sprint Race
First	Jarl Teien	Hene
Second	Emanuel Gaczella	Storm Racing Team
Third	Bart De Vos	Wicked Fox Racing
Fastest Lap	Jarl Teien	Hene
Fastest Lap	1:42.472

The 2012 Challenge Dutch Grand Prix - the second round of the season - took place on the TT Circuit Assen on the 14th of March. As much as 32 drivers started the race, which is the highest number in the still young series.

Report

Qualifying

The pole was taken by Storm Racing Team driver Emanuel Gaczella with a 1:42.035, 0,3 seconds faster than Jarl Teien in his hene who started as 2nd. Adrian McNaughton Did a grand job taking the 3rd place, followed by Jim Parisis in 4th. Jon MacLean started as 5th and Ihab Abbas did a great job for Hatchell-Pennine Motorsport, taking 6th position. Row 4 was taken by Janne Vaananen (7th) and Ari Nieminen (8th). Djemel Boukerche qualified as 9th with Gasper Mozek next to him at 10th. SuperLeague driver Jason Muscat did his job as reserve driver, taking 11th place at the grid. Keith Storrie took the 12th spot before Andrew Morgan who was 13th. The other SuperLeague driver, Bart De Vos, had trouble with the car and started as 14th. Row 8 was taken by Alex Rolls and Scotty Moore, with behind them Wopke Hoekstra as 17th at his home race. Gary Allen started as 18th, with Lee Davidson and Lims Chebbi behind them. RTS driver Alistair Brown took 21st place, followed by Lee Massey (22nd) and Alistairs team mate Marcus Sundstrom started as 23rd. Simon Crain qualified as 24th, and the row behind him was taken by James Charman (25th) and Teemu Toikka (26th). [Dale Stones]] took 27th place, and Gavin Thomas did his job as reserve driver to qualify his Red 5 Racing car on 28th place. GPVWC leaderWilliam Ponissi placed his car on a memorable 29th position. Ollie Woods started as 30th, with Eurico Marques behind him as 31st. Last but not least was Myles Dixon at the 32nd place respectively.

Feature Race

The start saw no big crashes happen. It was Emanuel who entered the first corner with Jim behind him in 2nd. Jon had a good start and moved to 3rd, but made a mistake a few corners later resulting in a 10th place at that moment. It was also Alex Rolls who manage to drive his car to the 5th place after a grand start.

Emanuel drove in the leading position when an unlucky Alistair gave blue. But at the same time it was Emanuel who changed something in his pit setting so the two collided. Jim was able to overtake him after the pit stops, but spun a few laps later to give the lead to Jarl. Jarl Teien drove a very long stint, but had eventualy come in for a stop, giving the lead back to Emanuel.

John McLean founght with some guys in front of him, but after some problems he had to retire due to suspension problems.

The race saw an intense battle between Jarl and Emanuel. The crowd, cheering for their hero's, saw Emanuel coming in first. Behind him it was a 0.3 seconds gap to Jarl in his hene. Hene, being a Dutch team, was very pleased with the result. Jim Parisis drove 3rd after his spin and managed to keep that position till the end. Adrian McNaughton did a grand job once again taking the 4th place. United Racers saw their driver Djemel Boukerche coming in as 5th. Andrew Morgan took his Synergetic to 6th place, with Ihab Abbas behind him as 7th. Janne Vaananen had a dissapointing race, and was only able to finish 8th. Lee Massey drove his red 5 Racing car to 9th, and it was Keith Storrie who came in 10th. Jason Muscat drove his Wicked Fox Racing to the 11th place. Ari Nieminen drove in as 12th, and Alex Rolls took the 13th place. Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra did a great job for his fans and finished 14th in his home event. James Charman was able to take the last point as 15th.

Sprint Race

Mike Schroten was able to drive the sprint race as reserve driver, since only Jarl was driving in one of the hene cars. It was James Charman who was allowed to start from pole, with Emanuel and the others start behind him in reversed order.

James wasn't able to hold his lead position, and moved to 5th place into the first corner. He would start dropping in the order through the race.

The start also saw a crash between Lee Davidson, Lims Chebbi and Gary Allen. Gary had a slow start and Lee moved to the left to overtake him. But he didn't watch his mirrors as Lims was driving beside him. A crash was the result and all drivers lost much time.

In the first laps many drivers spun. A great moment was by Marcus Sundstrom, who was able to keep 7 drivers behind him on the long strait.

After t lap 2 it was Alex Rolls who lead the field, with Jarl Teien behind him and local hero Wopke Hoekstra in 3rd. Dutchman Mike Schroten had less luck, spinning a few times.

At the finish it was Jarl Teien who won the race. The crowd went crazy because their Dutch team hene won the race. Emanuel Gaczella expended his lead and came in 2nd. Belgium driverBart De Vos took the last spot on the podium in his near-home race. Jim Parisis wasn't able to kepp up with Emanuel and finished 4th, losing valuable points to Emanuel. Janne Vaananen had an other stable race and came in 5th. Jon MacLean did a good job driving his car to 6th place. Dutchman Wopke Hoekstra came in 7th, a good job for the Velocity Racing driver. Adrian McNaughton had a slightly dissapointing race and came in 8th. Alex Rolls finished 9th and Gasper Mozek drove to the 10th place. The padock is still waiting for the first win of Gasper, after some races with bad luck. Lims Chebbi had another steady race and finished 11th, before fellow Frenceman Djemel Boukerche who came in 12th. Djemel rammed Marcus earlier that race, resulting in a no-points finish for the Swede. Later he said sorry for not waiting, a sigh how close the new series is and how hard the battleare. Ari Nieminen drove his car to 13h, with Dale Stones behind him as 14th. The last point was taken by Lee Davidson. A battle between Marcus Sundstrom (16th) and Gavin Thomas (17th) ended up into a gap of 0.016 seconds.