My3id top the Standings after Round 2 of iWCSRR

By Niall McEvoy | Mar 15, 2011 18:34 UTC | 799 Views

Klaus Kivekas leads the champioship with Aleksi Elomaa right behind him after round 2. An overall mixed bag for My3id as connection problems and damage hinder the results for Nieminen and Luis.

After a fantastic result at Spa, our drivers got to work quickly on keeping up the benchmark that was set in round 1. However My3id were down 2 drivers from the previous round. Hot off the 3rd position at the Intel GP World Final in Hannover, David Williams was summoned to represent the University of Loughborough for the British Universities Karting Championship in Wales. Our resident man in armour, Marcus Saari, was too busy shooting at cardboard cutouts in snowy forests and learning how to put together grenade launching contraptions. So it was left for round one winner Jesse Nieminen, Hugo Luis, Klaus Kivekas and Aleksi Elomaa to fly the flag for My3id Gaming in the lovely setting of Philip Island in Australia.

Some doubts were cast over round 2 as Team Redline announced that Huttu, Masier and Bartsch would not attend due to injury and scheduling conflicts. This gave other drivers an opportunity to rise to the challenge and score good points.

Qualifying got under way, and by all accounts it was a nightmare for most drivers. 34 cars on such a short track proved to be a big nuisance with many drivers struggling to get good laps in. However, our drivers locked out the top 3 spots with Jesse leading the way with a 1:06.111, Hugo right behind with a 1:06.181 and Klaus rounding out the top 3. Aleksi managed 8th position.

"Qual was horrible, too many cars for this short track. I managed to get a basic laptime, but nothing spectacular. 8th position. " - Aleksi Elomaa

"Seeing My3id Gaming lock down top3 in the quali was also great, well done to my teammates. " - Jesse Nieminen

"My hopes were on starting a hotlap on the final seconds of the session to get at least one lap without traffic. The plan worked and I got a decent time on the final attempt which placed me 3rd on the grid." - Klaus Kivekas

"My qualifying went quite well doing a .181, which put me in the 2nd spot - and better from what I was expecting since my day was not really being any good and by the fact there were 34 cars in same session with dust everywhere." - Hugo Luis

As the lights went green, Hugo was able to capitalize on Jesse's bad start and led him through turn 1. Meanwhile in the mid field, there was a massive accident involving 12 drivers. Cars going everywhere was a scary sight as there were collision everywhere you looked. Fortunately, Aleksi was able to get through unscathed and continued to work his way up to the pack. 

"At start I stalled, but so did cars infront so it didn't kill me, though Ben's car almost killed me, but awesome netcode of this game saved my race." - Aleksi Elomaa

"I probably failed the start more than anyone has ever failed a start, dropped the clutch way too much and completely bogged down." - Jesse Nieminen

Some laps later, Hugo was held up by a backmarker for a full lap and Jesse was able to make the most of this, catching Hugo's draft and making a successful move into T1. Unfortunately for Hugo, eventual race winner Luke Mclean was also able to pounce on the young Brazilian. At this point, the top 6 were closely knit coming up to the first pitstops.

In the pitlane, Klaus and Orion's Ilkka Haapala were able to leapfrog Hugo due to a unusually long pitstop. Jesse had a clean pitstop and got away in first without hassle. Hugo and Haapala battled through T1 and T2, however Hugo misjudged the Finn's movement and made slight contact with him, causing enough front wing damage to lose 2.5 seconds a lap. Aleksi opted to stay out an extra 2 laps. This benefited him greatly as he came out of the pits right behind Hugo and Purdy.

"During the first stint the top 6 was really close together, overtaking was pretty much impossible so it was just all about keeping the car on the track and hoping to gain positions during the pitstops. Hugo had a bad stop which allowed me to leapfrog him." - Klaus Kivekas

Once again, Hugo was in the wars. While underestimating the damage recieved from the incident with Haapala, he tried to defend his position from Purdy (who was gaining on Hugo very quickly). This ended in tears for Purdy as he collided with Hugo at Lukey heights. Hugo, now damaged at both ends, was able to continue as Purdy went careering into the barrier. Aleksi was able to ease past the drivers and claimed 5th spot.

"My pitstop took incredibly long somehow and got leapfrogged by my team-mate Klaus, and Ilkka. Me and Ilkka were in an interesting battle and went side-by-side through T1. In T2, I got confused by his car movements, probably due to the netcode, and had a slight contact with him. My front wing got damaged, making my car very slow during the straights and quite difficult to turn in. It was like driving without front downforce." - Hugo Luis

"I made my pitstop 2 laps later than rest of the top 7 and after my stop I was right behind Hugo and Shawn who crashed on my outlap so I was promoted up to 5th. Then I was just trying to drive as fast as I could." - Aleksi Elomaa

As Hugo dropped down the field, Jesse was comfortably leading by 6 seconds and was a shoe in for the victory. This joy was short lived as he suffered a time out on lap 26 of the race. This promoted McLean to first spot with Klaus a mere two and a half seconds behind. Haapala moved up to 3rd while Aleksi was now 4th.

"Well what can I say, had the win pretty much in the bag and then as I saw the Q-bar starting to get red I just couldn't believe it. " - A dejected Jesse Nieminen

The second round of pitstops came and Hugo was able to repair his damage. Aleksi once again stayed out longer in order to have fresher tires for the final stint so he could mount an attack. The only trouble the leaders had now was navigating through the backmarkers. Hugo found himself well down the pack in 17th position and it was now a case of damage limitation. Slowly but surely, Hugo pegged his way up the order one by one, finishing in a very respectable 12th position.

With a few laps to go, Aleksi was hot on the tail of Haapala. Both drivers had trouble with backmarkers, but Aleksi was unable to make up the gap and drove his Williams FW31 to 4th position. Klaus, too, was unable to make up the few seconds which separated him and McLean. Overall an uneventful race for Klaus, but he kept cool and drove the whole race with zero incidents finishing in 2nd position.

"I hoped to get Ilkka in the pits but I came out of pits 2 secs too late. I had a slightly better car for the last stint so I knew it would have been possible to catch him. I wasn't good enough to catch Ilkka in the end." - Aleksi Elomaa

"After my second pitstop, I was already 17th after nearly running out of fuel. Got my damage repaired but my steering wheel was still not straight, but the handling was way better, giving me the opportunity to make a recovery race. " - Hugo Luis

So after 2 rounds, it is Klaus Kivekas who leads the championship with 72 points. Aleksi Elomaa is 10 points behind in 2nd with Hugo Luis back on 53 and Jesse Nieminen a further point behind on 52. Round 3 is all to play for with Jesse hoping to bounce back from his unfortunate disconnection. No doubt with everyone back in the fray for round 3, it is sure to be a mighty encounter at Zandvoort!

Some final quotes:
"That was a race of ups and downs for our team. Unfortunately I had a damaged car and Jesse a technical problem, but Klaus and Aleksi both managed for a 2th and 4th, putting themselves in the championship 1-2. " - Hugo Luis

"I'm really happy to get my first podium finish in the series, especially considering that this track was supposed to be my weakest link in the schedule. It's quite a shock to be leading the championship after 2 rounds. It won't last that way for long but I'll enjoy it while I can. Obviously it's not the nicest way to take the lead in the championship with Jesse having such horrible luck but I'm sure he will bounce back stronger than ever in the next race. " - Klaus Kivekas

"Congrats to Luke for the win and to Klaus, Ilkka and Aleksi for good results also. 1-2 in the championship for us is pretty epic. Also it's a shame that Greger and Luca couldn't make it to the race, hope you guys get well soon." - Jesse Nieminen

"Good result and run for me. Not so good result for the team with Jesse discoing and Hugo having problems with other cars. Oh and I am 2nd in the chimpionship lol." - Aleksi Elomaa

Race results
Championship Standings

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siLc (1 year 70 days ago) Well done!