2023 Season 2 Round 3 Thunder Results
Thunder Series Review
Wednesday night saw the Thunder Series head to the wine region of California and to the Sonoma Raceway for Round 3 of Series 2. This race would also double as Race 3 of the 2023 Road Course Title.
A smaller field of only 20 cars made it to the circuit – others teams seemed to have been detained by Customs after returning from Twin Ring Motegi the previous week. Dyson showed that he would be hard to beat, claiming pole position by eight tenths of a second over Jones, with Urquijo and Jaie Schultz filling row 2.
Jones got the traction down well on the outside, and preferred line, at the start and grabbed the lead from Dyson entering turn 1 for the first time. Martin had a scare at turn 4 with a half spin, but otherwise the opening lap was trouble free for the field.
An early battle between Barber and Jaie Schultz resulted in Barber dropping several positions by being out of position as the field navigated the Esses, settling towards the back end of the top 10.
Lap 7, and Jones drifts wide going through turn 10 which allowed Dyson to be on the inside for the turn 11 hairpin and move into the race lead. Drivers started struggling early with overheated rear tyres, with Mckenzie the first to stop on lap 13, with Barber and Martin stopping only a couple of laps later for fresh tyres and a splash of fuel to remove any need for fuel saving.
Once these drivers got up to speed, this then drew others into the lane to minimise the undercut, which was worth up to two seconds a lap. This allowed quite a few battles throughout the mid pack to develop, with drivers with varying tyre temperature and condition.
Halfway home and Dyson had developed an 18 second lead over Urquijo, Phelps, Clark and Raymond. Jones was in sixth position, and the first driver to have stopped for tyres, with Georgeson, Mckenzie, Jaie Schultz and Tomlin rounding out the top 10.
Dyson and Clark remained out on track with the older tyres, going for a no stop strategy. With 15 to go, Jones had worked his way up into second position but nearly thirty seconds off of lead. Whilst Jones was able to make some inroads into Dyson’s lead, lap times had equalled out. Dyson would go on to take a 21 second win from Jones, whilst Jaie Schultz was able to get the final spot on the podium, passing Clark as they came to the white flag.
Race Summary:
40 Laps
0 Cautions for 0 Laps
2 Leaders
1 Lead Changes
1st - #41 Andrew Dyson
2nd - #11 Ryan Jones
3rd - #27 Jaie Schultz
4th - #09 Norman Clark
5th - #194 Andy Barber
Stewards Summary:
Cautions:
Nil
Restarts:
Nil
Protests:
Nil
Other:
#247 Luke Georgeson - DQ from the race for abusive language (verbal and written)
#42 Lachlan Urquijo – unprofessional conduct (language), 5 point penalty
There was a first and final warning issued to all drivers after Race 3 of Series 1 about abusive language. Any further offences will result in a week off.
Series 2 standings:
Continuing his perfect start to the series, Dyson extends his championship lead to 13 points over Jones, with Michelmore 7 points further behind.
Road Course Title:
Mckenzie maintains an 11 point lead as we hit the halfway point. Jaie Schultz has moved into second position whilst Phelps, Michelmore and Raymond round out the top 5.
The next race of the series will take place in 6 weeks time at Road America
2023 overall standings:
Continuing to get solid points even on his poorer tracks, Martin maintains a comfortable lead in the overall championship, slightly reduced to 43 points over Michelmore, with Mckenzie, Jaie Schultz and Phelps rounding out the top 5.
Full race results and Series 2 standings at Sim Racer Hub: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_schedule.php...
Next week sees the Thunder Series head to the Nashville Superspeedway, where all eyes will be on who can overcome Dysons’ dominance.
For full race replay and future Thunder Series broadcasts, please head to Performance E-Streaming on YouTube and Facebook
Wednesday night saw the Thunder Series head to the wine region of California and to the Sonoma Raceway for Round 3 of Series 2. This race would also double as Race 3 of the 2023 Road Course Title.
A smaller field of only 20 cars made it to the circuit – others teams seemed to have been detained by Customs after returning from Twin Ring Motegi the previous week. Dyson showed that he would be hard to beat, claiming pole position by eight tenths of a second over Jones, with Urquijo and Jaie Schultz filling row 2.
Jones got the traction down well on the outside, and preferred line, at the start and grabbed the lead from Dyson entering turn 1 for the first time. Martin had a scare at turn 4 with a half spin, but otherwise the opening lap was trouble free for the field.
An early battle between Barber and Jaie Schultz resulted in Barber dropping several positions by being out of position as the field navigated the Esses, settling towards the back end of the top 10.
Lap 7, and Jones drifts wide going through turn 10 which allowed Dyson to be on the inside for the turn 11 hairpin and move into the race lead. Drivers started struggling early with overheated rear tyres, with Mckenzie the first to stop on lap 13, with Barber and Martin stopping only a couple of laps later for fresh tyres and a splash of fuel to remove any need for fuel saving.
Once these drivers got up to speed, this then drew others into the lane to minimise the undercut, which was worth up to two seconds a lap. This allowed quite a few battles throughout the mid pack to develop, with drivers with varying tyre temperature and condition.
Halfway home and Dyson had developed an 18 second lead over Urquijo, Phelps, Clark and Raymond. Jones was in sixth position, and the first driver to have stopped for tyres, with Georgeson, Mckenzie, Jaie Schultz and Tomlin rounding out the top 10.
Dyson and Clark remained out on track with the older tyres, going for a no stop strategy. With 15 to go, Jones had worked his way up into second position but nearly thirty seconds off of lead. Whilst Jones was able to make some inroads into Dyson’s lead, lap times had equalled out. Dyson would go on to take a 21 second win from Jones, whilst Jaie Schultz was able to get the final spot on the podium, passing Clark as they came to the white flag.
Race Summary:
40 Laps
0 Cautions for 0 Laps
2 Leaders
1 Lead Changes
1st - #41 Andrew Dyson
2nd - #11 Ryan Jones
3rd - #27 Jaie Schultz
4th - #09 Norman Clark
5th - #194 Andy Barber
Stewards Summary:
Cautions:
Nil
Restarts:
Nil
Protests:
Nil
Other:
#247 Luke Georgeson - DQ from the race for abusive language (verbal and written)
#42 Lachlan Urquijo – unprofessional conduct (language), 5 point penalty
There was a first and final warning issued to all drivers after Race 3 of Series 1 about abusive language. Any further offences will result in a week off.
Series 2 standings:
Continuing his perfect start to the series, Dyson extends his championship lead to 13 points over Jones, with Michelmore 7 points further behind.
Road Course Title:
Mckenzie maintains an 11 point lead as we hit the halfway point. Jaie Schultz has moved into second position whilst Phelps, Michelmore and Raymond round out the top 5.
The next race of the series will take place in 6 weeks time at Road America
2023 overall standings:
Continuing to get solid points even on his poorer tracks, Martin maintains a comfortable lead in the overall championship, slightly reduced to 43 points over Michelmore, with Mckenzie, Jaie Schultz and Phelps rounding out the top 5.
Full race results and Series 2 standings at Sim Racer Hub: https://www.simracerhub.com/scoring/season_schedule.php...
Next week sees the Thunder Series head to the Nashville Superspeedway, where all eyes will be on who can overcome Dysons’ dominance.
For full race replay and future Thunder Series broadcasts, please head to Performance E-Streaming on YouTube and Facebook
