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16-11-2008 - Website The Team Ecosse website has been given a new 'blue' look, based on the new team logo. It is hoped this will prove a popular change. 10-11-2008 - Gentlemens Racing Club The sixth round of the GRCL5 championship was held at New Zealand's Manfeild circuit and, following his absence from the previous round at Sugo, Alan was in attendance to keep Erik company. It turned out to be his best night yet at GRC. The opening race saw Alan line up second on the grid, with Erik four places behind him. A great start for both drivers resulted in Alan being first and Erik third by Turn 1! The lead was soon relinquished, however, as Mark Tiller was in unstoppable form in his SEAT. After that, it was a battle between the two Team Ecosse drivers and Jan Haak for the remaining podium positions. Starting the final lap, Alan was looking good for second, but Erik was running fourth having been passed a couple of laps earlier by Jan. Amazingly, though, the race leader got tangled up with a backmarker on the final corner of the final lap, which let Alan through to win! Not only that, Erik was also promoted to third, making it two teammates on the podium. A fantastic effort from the team. The feature race didn't go quite as well. Erik, in particular, struggled after a mistake in qualifying, but eventually managed to bring his BMW home in the final points-paying position. Alan's race was also far from perfect, and he finished 7th. All in all, though, a good night for the team, and one which shows Team Ecosse can just about compete with the best in Division 2. In practise Morten was at the front, together with Steve and Thomas, which suggested a good race for the Team Ecosse drivers. David and Davey struggled with their cars during practice but by the end were looking pretty good. However, Davey took a risk and made last minute changes in Happy Hour which resulted in rev limiter problems on the straights. The other Team Ecosse drivers were at the back of the field, patiently waiting for the right time to commence their move to the front. Thomas managed to stay there and eventually took 2nd place from Martin Buchan in a thrilling fight! Davey managed to hold the vMaxSR drivers behind him and ended up 4th, despite his problems. Unfortunately for Steve, his engine blew during a restart. As the flag dropped, the team began to patiently work its way through the field, keeping a close eye on the newbies that were an unknown factor, and an even closer eye on some of the veterans known for their 'destructive' nature. Davey would show great pace, working his way towards the front, in what would end up being a roller coaster night for him - on the track, and emotionally. As the race progressed, the carnage began to ensue, with Davey and Thomas find themselves the proud owners of bent sheet metal. Once again Davey's crew worked tirelessly, unwilling to give up, patching up his battered truck. Meanwhile the sly veterans, Steve and Derek, had very quietly worked their way to the front of the pack. As the laps ticked off, and the field thinned, the silence on the team channel was broken when Thomas declared the expiration of his engine. The green would fly again, and Steve would take his #09 Subway truck the the front of the pack... but the yellow would soon come out. Leading the pack to the final restart, the #09 would quickly get pressured by Ian Smiff's #06, after pulling to Steve's outside, Yosh would pack Steve spoiler with air, making him loose into Turn 1, and shuffle him back to 7th a place finish. Derek would stick to Ian's bumper and hold on to a second place finish, while Davey, seemingly coming out of nowhere, would race his way to third (after restarting at the back of the pack 10 laps earlier) and Jonas would round out the top five in his #65 River Restless Silverado. As it turned out, he finished a comfortable 4th, and so Team Ecosse was crowned the team champions. This is the team's first such title outside of the V8Thunder NR2003 league, so congratulations to Alan and Brian for their efforts! The opening race was predictably frantic, but both Team Ecosse drivers started well and moved into the Top 10, only to hit problems later on. Alan finished just outside the points in 17th, with Erik further back in 22nd after having to make a stop for fuel. The feature race was much better for the team, and the longer duration allowed Alan and Erik to move up the field and show what they were capable of. Despite starting from the back, Erik brought his E90 home just inside the Top 10, while Alan also picked up points in 12th. An unspectacular start for the team, but reasons to be confident for the second round at Mid-Ohio. For Erik it started terribly when Steve Pearce, who was a lap down, collided with him and sent them both into the wall, just eighteen laps into the race. Erik's car was not too bad but he lost many positions. Then, almost right after, the skies opened and the rain started pouring down on the 1.5 mile speedway and the V8Thunder officials had no option but to bring out the red flag and wait for the rain to stop. Fortunately it was only a short shower and the race could be restarted later on, doing only 67 laps instead of 94 this time. This meant that everyone had a second chance and now it worked better for the TE drivers, with Thomas leading the way in the early stages, running in Top 5, with Erik and Jonas close behind. Unfortunately this was not Thomas' day and he collided with Keith Owen in a late restart sending him into the wall, taking Ben Parker with him. Jonas also got involved in the wreck as he had nowhere to go but to T-bone a stationary truck. However, both of them could finish the race in 7th and 8th respectively and made a very strong run in the end. While the crash was to Thomas' disadvantage, Erik actually gained from it when he jumped from 5th to 3rd. The restart was then thrown with 20 laps to go and it all looked great for Erik. He was running safe and steady in 3rd for a while but could even pass series returnee Alistair Topley for 2nd place. Caspar Kahari lead the race comfortably but Erik had no problem going in his pace but he was never close to try passing the vMaxSR driver. So when the checkered flag waved it was a Sweden 1-2 with Caspar and Erik. This was, of course, very good to Erik's championship challenge. Practice Well, had a good solid run, little problems with understeer at the last turn. But the speed in the straights was good, compared to other N-GT's who had most likely more grip. Qualifying Did a good run with a 1:50:5. Robin came close, but still too far. I knew that I could drive a 1:49:9, so I tried again but failed underbraking into second chicane. Race
Started good, Robin just disappeared before the start, too bad... looked like being an exciting fight there.
Then, after a few turns, I slowed the pace to the second car, to spare my tyres and fuel and not over-drive myself.
Then, when they began to push, I drove faster and faster, and took a large gap of twenty seconds or more.
Halfway through the race I made a pitstop, and lost the first place to Yves for maybe four or five laps... then took the place back after a tiny mistake from him and drove away again. For the last few laps I cruised home and and let my pace down. I lapped all the N-GT cars and finished first! Thomas - fresh off two consecutive wins in the premiere series - found trouble early on as the 179 car touched the apron and washed up the track into the 22 car, which was shunted to the wall, suffering engine damage which would later prove to be catastrophic. There were two nice
long green runs to finish the race, and while the high grippers may have
had a boring time of it up front, there were many spirited battles to be
had throughout the bottom half of the Top 10. Davey proved especially adept
at managing traffic and boosting team spirits. Erik joined the team on
Ventrilo and brought the 38 car home in 8th, as the 91 car was unable to
make a challenge for the position late. Decent finishes for the team
overall, and Thomas will likely be out to restart his win streak at
Talladega next week. The American Thomas Hendrickson, riding the momentum of his Trophy win the week before at RockinghamUK, showed his speed on old tires and came to the front. As the caution flew late, the 22 car pitted from the lead but had a skoche of trouble hitting his marks in the pit stall - this minor error dropped the American to 3rd on the restart with 25 laps to go. Taking aim at the 33 and 53 cars ahead, Hendrickson moved to 2nd quickly, then made an amazing and risky outside move on the 33 car for the race winning pass. The 68 car made a late charge but wasn't able to get to the rear bumper of the Samsung Camry, which powered to the win. Donuts a-plenty were served on the front stretch - could a cookie be far behind??? Upon pulling into the winner's circle, Thomas was heard saying, "This is Indy week, think I will enjoy some cookies and milk!". Although Alan's 'Super Cookie' is still up for grabs for the first Trucks win, the team will be happy to pitch in for cookies and milk for every TE race winner. Ante up boys, this could be the first of many this season! In a signature display of the team's style, they quickly and patiently moved through the field, behind the fast driving of Thomas Hendrickson. Despite many accidents, engine failures, and loose race cars, the team kept it safe and on track, with only Davey having mechanical issues. In the end Thomas would post a Top 5, with Erik and Jonas posting Top 10s, and Derek and David making it five in the Top 15. The thoroughly deserved winner was Davey Zoutenbier - the new recruit dominated with six wins in total, despite the best attempts of the organisers to slow him down! Congratulations Davey. The team looks forward to seeing you carry this form forward in the coming months. First to sign was Netherland's Davey Zoutenbier, former Lites independent champion and multiple GRA winner. Next was former Team Shark driver Morten Straus. Morten is pretty much a veteran of V8Thunder, and the Norwegian made his 100th start in the Inters season finale at Talladega. The third signing is two-time Trophy champion Dave Luoto - the American should bring much experience to the team. Last, but by no means least, was another American - Thomas Hendrickson - an Inters race winner in his debut season. Welcome to the team, guys! As was the case at Menfeild two weeks ago, there were mixed fortunes for the team. Neil struggled to get to grips with Mount Panorama, and retired after eight laps. Matt had a spin on the opening lap, and was always going to struggle to overcome the lost time. David had a very strong start, but found the car an increasing handful as the laps went by. He eventually had a crash, picked up damage, and it was all he could do to bring his Megane home in 14th place (one position behind Matt). Top performer on the night was Alan, who drove a near faultless race to finish 7th - his best result of the season to date. The opening lap was a bit of a nightmare for the team - Matt was unfortunate to be involved in a first-lap incident, Neil had an off, while David had to serve a drive-through penalty for jumping the start. Alan got away fine, though, and was soon involved in a battle for a Top 10 finish that would last right until the end. He managed to achieve this - only just - but a points finish is a points finish. Neil was next best finisher, down in 15th, with David one position behind and Matt 20th. The race wasn't to go perfectly for the team, however, as Steve was 'Caspared' as the vMaxSR driver was lapping him, resulting in a trip to the infield wall... but no yellow. This left Derek and Alan to try and get good results for the team. Good fuel strategy meant that both were on course for solid Top 10 placings, but late yellows removed that advantage. Alan was then only able to finish 9th, but Derek went racing instead and still managed to get 6th place - an excellent result. Steve finished 13th, a good effort under the circumstances. For the opening race, Alan qualified a personal best 2nd, with Paul just two places further back. Paul quickly got ahead of his teammate and moved up into second. He was unable to do anything about Robert Fakes in the lead, but the next best position was his. Alan started poorly, and gradually dropped down the field, until a spin on Lap 7, put him down to 14th. He was able to get back to 12th, but it was a poor show. Steve, meanwhile, had a steady race and got his car into the Top 10 - about as good a result as he could have expected. Alan again qualified 2nd for the feature race, but this time it was Paul ahead of him on the grid - the team's first pole position at GRC! Paul held on to the lead for a good few laps, under intense pressure from Fakes, but eventually his rival got past. Paul kept him honest, though, and went on to pick up his second runner-up position of the evening. Alan had a better race than the first, and finished 4th - his best at GRC. Steve, however, had an almighty off on Lap 10, missing a turn-in point and wrecking his BMW against a wall. Following his two fantastic results, Paul has moved up to 6th in the championship. Steve and Alan are 11th and 12th, respectively. In the teams championship, Team Ecosse has jumped up to 2nd, just behind Unreal Racers. In the final run to the chequered flag Steve ran off from the restart, leaving everyone else to battle for second. After some hard fighting, Jonas would prevail and bring it home second for a 1-2 Team Ecosse finish, and Derek making it three in the Top 5. Alan and Steve struggled in qualifying for the feature race, which meant all hopes of a great result rested with Paul. It very nearly happened, as he was running third until a final lap spin at the chicane. Paul was still the best finisher for the team in 5th, with Alan 7th and Steve 10th. All in all, a great start for the team. | ||
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