2023 Season 1 Round 1 Thunder Results
Thunder Series Review
Neale burst through the California fog to pip Martin for the win at Fontana
The Thunder Series headed west on Wednesday to sunny California, but drivers were left disappointed to be greeted by a thick early morning fog across the venue. A near capacity grid used all of the allocated practice time to get to grips with the slippery surface, in particular when exiting turn 4.
Of the 39 cars entered, 10 drivers elected to not take time and start at the rear hoping to keep their nose clean in what was looking like a challenging race. Up front, Barry Neale claimed pole position ahead of Steven Williams and Joshua Carroll-Walden.
At the drop of the green flag, Neale pushed hard and opened up an early gap over Carroll-Walden, Josh Michelmore and Jason Martin. Back behind the front runners, drivers were 3 and sometime 4 wide as they searched for a racing line that could move them forward. But with racing in such close proximity, it didn’t take long before gaps in the bunch started to open up as drivers lifted to avoid damage.
Despite pushing Neale hard early, Carroll-Walden started to drop down the order and by Lap 16 had dropped down to fourth. Neale looked comfortable out front, running the low line and holding the lead over Martin by approx. 1 second and with fourth placed Chris Purnell already 4 seconds adrift. The top 3 of Neale, Martin and Michelmore continued to pull away and by Lap 34 the gap over fourth place was out to 6 seconds. Everyone but those 3 were desperately hoping for a caution to help close the gap up before it was too late.
Despite several drivers spinning and/or making contact, the track remained green and drivers started assessing their strategy calls for potential green flag stop. Lap 37 arrived and drivers started heading for the lane for fresh boots and enough fuel to get them to the end. Neale elected for pit from the lead on Lap 40 whilst Martin and Michelmore continue for an additional lap. However, just as Marin approached the lane on the following, the first caution flew. An impressive 4 wheel drift allowed Martin to get into pit lane mere moments before the red lights were turned on to close pit entry.
With the majority of the field having pitted under green, it meant that some cars had the luxury of a less stressful stop as well as gaining plenty of track position. Whilst the top 3 remained unchanged (although Martin was now in front of Neale), drivers who had started further down the order such as Matthew Raymond Noddy Tompkins and Brad Fenly found themselves sitting inside the top 6.
Several small green flag runs would be punctuated with incidents as drivers on different tyre quality would get tangled up with each other. Once the dust had settled, drivers were looking at a 14 lap dash to the finish, with Michelmore leading from Raymond, Purnell, Paul Drady and Round 1 winner Darren Mckenzie. Due to stopping for fresh tyres late, early leaders Martin and Neale would restart from 12th and 13th respectfully.
Due to the wide nature of the Auto Club Speedway, tyre quality trumped any benefit of having track position. Michelmore lead comfortably from the restart but would’ve had 1 eye on the rear view mirror and seen that Martin and Neale were coming fast. It was a matter of when, not if, they would catch Michelmore. This led to running high in turn 4 on Lap 68, brushing the wall and allowing Raymond and Purnell through just as Martin and Neale made it through the traffic.
Lap 72 and Martin had gained the lead with Neale glued to his bumper, but Raymond and Purnell weren’t done with yet, fighting hard to keep track position. But this high tempo took its toll on their tyres and they slowly lost contact along with Michelmore. It was now a 2 horse race between Marin and Neale. Martin was determined to hold the low line, a place where Neale had been fast all night. But Neale was able to hang tough on the outside through turn 4 and pip Martin at the line by 0.006s – a closer finish than last week at Daytona! Coming from the back end of the top 10 late was Wade Sheedy to snag third ahead of Raymond and Michelmore
Race Summary:
77 Laps
4 Cautions for 12 Laps
5 leaders
9 Lead Changes
1st - #22 Barry Neale
2nd - #21 Jason Martin
3rd - #009 Wade Sheedy
4th - #83 Matthew Raymond
5th - #31 Josh Michelmore
Stewards Summary:
Cautions:
Lap 41 - #274 Luke Georgeson
Lap 47 - #14 Mark Johansson
Lap 54 - #212 Christopher Tomlin
Lap 61 - #06 Ruben Phelps
Start Procedure Penalties:
Race Start - #27 Luke Kenny - Lane Change
Restart Lap 44 - #009 Wade Sheedy – Lane Change
Restart Lap 44 - # 270 Jaie Schultz – Lane Change
Restart Lap 65 - #5 Scott Griffiths – Lane Change
Protests:
Restart Lap 44 - #080 Koby Jordan out of position on race restart, issuing an in race penalty to #35 Joshua Carroll-Walden. During investigation, it was determined that there was nil deliberate intent behind this, as well as noting the #080 Koby Jordan also received an in race penalty for passing under yellow.
A reminder to all drivers when a caution is called. Please ensure that you are listening to your spotter for where you are meant to be in the queue as well as using your relative screen and voice chat to identify where the pace car is. In the opening 2 races, there has been several occasions where drivers have been urging their competitors to catch up to the field.
ANZCAR Rule 5(g): Upon the race being placed under caution drivers must catch up to the next car in the pacing line as quickly as possible. Drivers unable to do this due to damage must, at a minimum, maintain pace car speed. If a driver is not able to maintain pace car speed they must stop at the trackside and tow their vehicle. The penalty for non-compliance is 10 championship points.
This is a blanket warning to the whole field. When a caution flies, do your vest to catch the bunch a quickly and safely as possible and then sort out your order. Holding back for half a lap creates issues, especially when iRacing at the last minute elects to change the on track order of the field. Going forward, admin will be reviewing all caution periods in their entirety to ensure that drivers aren’t dragging their feet when it comes to catching up to the pace car, either when the initial caution is called or upon exiting pit lane.
Other:
#212 Christopher Tomlin – ROF start at next Thunder series race (3 incident strikes)
After 2 races, Michelmore takes a 2 point lead in the standings over Mckenzie, with Carroll-Walden a further 2 points back in third; the top 6 drivers covered by just 7 points.
Next week sees drivers head to the Nevada desert for 103 laps around Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Round 3 of the ANZCAR Thunder Series.
Full race results: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_race.php...
Full driver standings: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_standings.php...
For full race replay and future Thunder Series broadcasts, please head to Performance E-Streaming on Facebook
Neale burst through the California fog to pip Martin for the win at Fontana
The Thunder Series headed west on Wednesday to sunny California, but drivers were left disappointed to be greeted by a thick early morning fog across the venue. A near capacity grid used all of the allocated practice time to get to grips with the slippery surface, in particular when exiting turn 4.
Of the 39 cars entered, 10 drivers elected to not take time and start at the rear hoping to keep their nose clean in what was looking like a challenging race. Up front, Barry Neale claimed pole position ahead of Steven Williams and Joshua Carroll-Walden.
At the drop of the green flag, Neale pushed hard and opened up an early gap over Carroll-Walden, Josh Michelmore and Jason Martin. Back behind the front runners, drivers were 3 and sometime 4 wide as they searched for a racing line that could move them forward. But with racing in such close proximity, it didn’t take long before gaps in the bunch started to open up as drivers lifted to avoid damage.
Despite pushing Neale hard early, Carroll-Walden started to drop down the order and by Lap 16 had dropped down to fourth. Neale looked comfortable out front, running the low line and holding the lead over Martin by approx. 1 second and with fourth placed Chris Purnell already 4 seconds adrift. The top 3 of Neale, Martin and Michelmore continued to pull away and by Lap 34 the gap over fourth place was out to 6 seconds. Everyone but those 3 were desperately hoping for a caution to help close the gap up before it was too late.
Despite several drivers spinning and/or making contact, the track remained green and drivers started assessing their strategy calls for potential green flag stop. Lap 37 arrived and drivers started heading for the lane for fresh boots and enough fuel to get them to the end. Neale elected for pit from the lead on Lap 40 whilst Martin and Michelmore continue for an additional lap. However, just as Marin approached the lane on the following, the first caution flew. An impressive 4 wheel drift allowed Martin to get into pit lane mere moments before the red lights were turned on to close pit entry.
With the majority of the field having pitted under green, it meant that some cars had the luxury of a less stressful stop as well as gaining plenty of track position. Whilst the top 3 remained unchanged (although Martin was now in front of Neale), drivers who had started further down the order such as Matthew Raymond Noddy Tompkins and Brad Fenly found themselves sitting inside the top 6.
Several small green flag runs would be punctuated with incidents as drivers on different tyre quality would get tangled up with each other. Once the dust had settled, drivers were looking at a 14 lap dash to the finish, with Michelmore leading from Raymond, Purnell, Paul Drady and Round 1 winner Darren Mckenzie. Due to stopping for fresh tyres late, early leaders Martin and Neale would restart from 12th and 13th respectfully.
Due to the wide nature of the Auto Club Speedway, tyre quality trumped any benefit of having track position. Michelmore lead comfortably from the restart but would’ve had 1 eye on the rear view mirror and seen that Martin and Neale were coming fast. It was a matter of when, not if, they would catch Michelmore. This led to running high in turn 4 on Lap 68, brushing the wall and allowing Raymond and Purnell through just as Martin and Neale made it through the traffic.
Lap 72 and Martin had gained the lead with Neale glued to his bumper, but Raymond and Purnell weren’t done with yet, fighting hard to keep track position. But this high tempo took its toll on their tyres and they slowly lost contact along with Michelmore. It was now a 2 horse race between Marin and Neale. Martin was determined to hold the low line, a place where Neale had been fast all night. But Neale was able to hang tough on the outside through turn 4 and pip Martin at the line by 0.006s – a closer finish than last week at Daytona! Coming from the back end of the top 10 late was Wade Sheedy to snag third ahead of Raymond and Michelmore
Race Summary:
77 Laps
4 Cautions for 12 Laps
5 leaders
9 Lead Changes
1st - #22 Barry Neale
2nd - #21 Jason Martin
3rd - #009 Wade Sheedy
4th - #83 Matthew Raymond
5th - #31 Josh Michelmore
Stewards Summary:
Cautions:
Lap 41 - #274 Luke Georgeson
Lap 47 - #14 Mark Johansson
Lap 54 - #212 Christopher Tomlin
Lap 61 - #06 Ruben Phelps
Start Procedure Penalties:
Race Start - #27 Luke Kenny - Lane Change
Restart Lap 44 - #009 Wade Sheedy – Lane Change
Restart Lap 44 - # 270 Jaie Schultz – Lane Change
Restart Lap 65 - #5 Scott Griffiths – Lane Change
Protests:
Restart Lap 44 - #080 Koby Jordan out of position on race restart, issuing an in race penalty to #35 Joshua Carroll-Walden. During investigation, it was determined that there was nil deliberate intent behind this, as well as noting the #080 Koby Jordan also received an in race penalty for passing under yellow.
A reminder to all drivers when a caution is called. Please ensure that you are listening to your spotter for where you are meant to be in the queue as well as using your relative screen and voice chat to identify where the pace car is. In the opening 2 races, there has been several occasions where drivers have been urging their competitors to catch up to the field.
ANZCAR Rule 5(g): Upon the race being placed under caution drivers must catch up to the next car in the pacing line as quickly as possible. Drivers unable to do this due to damage must, at a minimum, maintain pace car speed. If a driver is not able to maintain pace car speed they must stop at the trackside and tow their vehicle. The penalty for non-compliance is 10 championship points.
This is a blanket warning to the whole field. When a caution flies, do your vest to catch the bunch a quickly and safely as possible and then sort out your order. Holding back for half a lap creates issues, especially when iRacing at the last minute elects to change the on track order of the field. Going forward, admin will be reviewing all caution periods in their entirety to ensure that drivers aren’t dragging their feet when it comes to catching up to the pace car, either when the initial caution is called or upon exiting pit lane.
Other:
#212 Christopher Tomlin – ROF start at next Thunder series race (3 incident strikes)
After 2 races, Michelmore takes a 2 point lead in the standings over Mckenzie, with Carroll-Walden a further 2 points back in third; the top 6 drivers covered by just 7 points.
Next week sees drivers head to the Nevada desert for 103 laps around Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Round 3 of the ANZCAR Thunder Series.
Full race results: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_race.php...
Full driver standings: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_standings.php...
For full race replay and future Thunder Series broadcasts, please head to Performance E-Streaming on Facebook
