Dom
31st-May-2010, 17:11
As many of you know we celebrate our 10th anniversary this month. So at Saturdays trip to Road Atlanta we really wanted to put on a show for those who have supported us - and we did!
Greger Huttu took an amazing 8th pole position and win in a gruelling 50 lap race. The story however was qual - a stunning performance saw Team Redline lockout the top 4 positions on the grid. Greger took pole in 1.07.5, Bast in 2nd with 1.07.9, Ben in 3rd with a 1.08 flat and Luke in 4th with a 1.08.2 - Dom unfortunately was in 10th with a 1.08.4 after a messy qualification.
A close start saw us lead off in formation, Ben managed to overtake Bastien into the final chicane with a great move however lag seemed to push Bastien off the track making him fall back to 11th. Ben and Luke then had a titanic battle over the next 20 laps with Luke overtaking due to a small error by Ben. Greger was setting an incredible pace up front and stretching his legs. Dom, dropped to 12th at the start managed to claw his way back to 7th place and was keeping a steady pace.
Bens race became more exciting as he had considerable pressure from Ilkka Haapala for a number of laps, fortunately for Ben the Flyin Finn couldn't quite get a good enough exit to pass Ben on the straights.
Bastien making up lost time finally caught Dom with 10 laps to go, after another team battle Bastien finally passed with 3 laps remaining to come home in 7th place, Dom in 8th.
Greger sealed a comprehensive victory, with a stunning drive from Luke sealing 2nd place and Ben taking the last Webber inspired podium position.
Greger consolidates his position at the top of the championship standings with Bastien in 3rd, Dom in 5th, Ben 6th and Luke 8th.
The team head to Lagune Seca in 2 weeks time.
Here's what Greger had to say;
My qual lap was really good again, 0.001 from my PB. It felt like there was a bit more time out there but I'm not complaining!
I guess I could copy my race report from the previous race here. It was pretty straightforward although Ben and Luke had good pace so I kept pushing throughout the first stint to have a margin for the pit stop. There wasn't as much lapping as I had thought but I seemed to catch everyone in sector 1 which isn't perfect. Anyway, no trouble there and I had enough of a gap for the second stint to take it pretty easy. The last 15 laps were long though!
Congrats to Luke and Ben and a nice top-3 for us with the 10 years anniversary car. Thanks to our painter and mad dutchie Erwin for a great job with that. And cheeeers to Fanatec! "
Ben:
"Well that was an interesting race.
I did a PB in qualifying which was important as it was so close here. I had been doing 1.08.3's and 4's all morning which would have ruined my race but managed to stick it on 3rd, the inside line for the race which pleased me greatly.
At the start I squeezed luke hard into 1 as he was along side (cant have that) and we made contact. This was my fault and bent my car a little bit. I pushed hard at the start and got a good run on bastien going onto the back straight. Bast went defensive so I decided to try this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgy1NqCwx8Q
However, though on my screen we made no contact (and I recieved no 0x or 4x), on his screen there was slight contact going into the right hander, so Bastien went off. My apologies mate.
First stint I had good pace, I kept luke behind me and we had an amusing brawl. Unfortunantly I got a wheel in the grass on lap 20 and locked up, overshot the chicane and got a slow down penalty that lasted for approximately 15 minutes. GG. Luke got through.
In the pit stops I did an OK one, came out about the same behind luke but then immediately speared off the track at 140mph and nearly put it into the wall. I also hit the curbing really hard and bent something badly.
This put ilkka behind me. I had mocked Ilkka before the race as (as we all know), he is the "ilkka train". Very similiar to the trulli train. Of course now the roles were reversed. I almost let him by just so I wouldn't have to listen to it for the next 2 weeks but he's Finnish, and nobody likes them, so I battled with him.
Turned out to be an entertaining battle. Ilkka was clearly running more downforce than me so he murdered me through the slow stuff, but I was always quick enough to fend him off going into the only real passing zone. He drove a classy race though and always gave room. Wd.
Finished 3rd, 2nd podium of the year for me and moves me into 2nd in the championship on points per race, which is good news. Im sure things will move around once the drop rounds start later down the track.
Thanks to Fanatec, and congrats to Greger and Luke on solid drives. "
And finally Dom:
"Firstly haha JP - i know you tried to block my face - but Duhan corner nearly took you down - glad you survived.
Pretty pleased with 8-th, had a bad qual which put me down in 10th! I was suprised at that, anyway, I have been cramming in practise today and it paid off which a finish at Road Atlanta - I'm pleased with that as its a very tricky circuit.
My race started badly as I nearly boned Darren and had to slam on the brakes - i was passed immediately and down to 12th - I then battled and managed to get into 7th and thought I'm going to relax here as the other guys had great pace and were 10 secs down the road. Around lap 40 Bastien came from nowhere and we had a great battle for the last 10 laps, he managed to pip me at the post but it was enjoyable (Florian scared the life out of me!).
Great result for the team on our 10th anniversary, well done Greger, Luke and Ben and thanks to Fanatec. "
Greger Huttu took an amazing 8th pole position and win in a gruelling 50 lap race. The story however was qual - a stunning performance saw Team Redline lockout the top 4 positions on the grid. Greger took pole in 1.07.5, Bast in 2nd with 1.07.9, Ben in 3rd with a 1.08 flat and Luke in 4th with a 1.08.2 - Dom unfortunately was in 10th with a 1.08.4 after a messy qualification.
A close start saw us lead off in formation, Ben managed to overtake Bastien into the final chicane with a great move however lag seemed to push Bastien off the track making him fall back to 11th. Ben and Luke then had a titanic battle over the next 20 laps with Luke overtaking due to a small error by Ben. Greger was setting an incredible pace up front and stretching his legs. Dom, dropped to 12th at the start managed to claw his way back to 7th place and was keeping a steady pace.
Bens race became more exciting as he had considerable pressure from Ilkka Haapala for a number of laps, fortunately for Ben the Flyin Finn couldn't quite get a good enough exit to pass Ben on the straights.
Bastien making up lost time finally caught Dom with 10 laps to go, after another team battle Bastien finally passed with 3 laps remaining to come home in 7th place, Dom in 8th.
Greger sealed a comprehensive victory, with a stunning drive from Luke sealing 2nd place and Ben taking the last Webber inspired podium position.
Greger consolidates his position at the top of the championship standings with Bastien in 3rd, Dom in 5th, Ben 6th and Luke 8th.
The team head to Lagune Seca in 2 weeks time.
Here's what Greger had to say;
My qual lap was really good again, 0.001 from my PB. It felt like there was a bit more time out there but I'm not complaining!
I guess I could copy my race report from the previous race here. It was pretty straightforward although Ben and Luke had good pace so I kept pushing throughout the first stint to have a margin for the pit stop. There wasn't as much lapping as I had thought but I seemed to catch everyone in sector 1 which isn't perfect. Anyway, no trouble there and I had enough of a gap for the second stint to take it pretty easy. The last 15 laps were long though!
Congrats to Luke and Ben and a nice top-3 for us with the 10 years anniversary car. Thanks to our painter and mad dutchie Erwin for a great job with that. And cheeeers to Fanatec! "
Ben:
"Well that was an interesting race.
I did a PB in qualifying which was important as it was so close here. I had been doing 1.08.3's and 4's all morning which would have ruined my race but managed to stick it on 3rd, the inside line for the race which pleased me greatly.
At the start I squeezed luke hard into 1 as he was along side (cant have that) and we made contact. This was my fault and bent my car a little bit. I pushed hard at the start and got a good run on bastien going onto the back straight. Bast went defensive so I decided to try this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgy1NqCwx8Q
However, though on my screen we made no contact (and I recieved no 0x or 4x), on his screen there was slight contact going into the right hander, so Bastien went off. My apologies mate.
First stint I had good pace, I kept luke behind me and we had an amusing brawl. Unfortunantly I got a wheel in the grass on lap 20 and locked up, overshot the chicane and got a slow down penalty that lasted for approximately 15 minutes. GG. Luke got through.
In the pit stops I did an OK one, came out about the same behind luke but then immediately speared off the track at 140mph and nearly put it into the wall. I also hit the curbing really hard and bent something badly.
This put ilkka behind me. I had mocked Ilkka before the race as (as we all know), he is the "ilkka train". Very similiar to the trulli train. Of course now the roles were reversed. I almost let him by just so I wouldn't have to listen to it for the next 2 weeks but he's Finnish, and nobody likes them, so I battled with him.
Turned out to be an entertaining battle. Ilkka was clearly running more downforce than me so he murdered me through the slow stuff, but I was always quick enough to fend him off going into the only real passing zone. He drove a classy race though and always gave room. Wd.
Finished 3rd, 2nd podium of the year for me and moves me into 2nd in the championship on points per race, which is good news. Im sure things will move around once the drop rounds start later down the track.
Thanks to Fanatec, and congrats to Greger and Luke on solid drives. "
And finally Dom:
"Firstly haha JP - i know you tried to block my face - but Duhan corner nearly took you down - glad you survived.
Pretty pleased with 8-th, had a bad qual which put me down in 10th! I was suprised at that, anyway, I have been cramming in practise today and it paid off which a finish at Road Atlanta - I'm pleased with that as its a very tricky circuit.
My race started badly as I nearly boned Darren and had to slam on the brakes - i was passed immediately and down to 12th - I then battled and managed to get into 7th and thought I'm going to relax here as the other guys had great pace and were 10 secs down the road. Around lap 40 Bastien came from nowhere and we had a great battle for the last 10 laps, he managed to pip me at the post but it was enjoyable (Florian scared the life out of me!).
Great result for the team on our 10th anniversary, well done Greger, Luke and Ben and thanks to Fanatec. "