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Bahrain saw some of the closest racing over an extended period that we ever get to see in Formula Sim Racing. Third to ninth placed drivers separated by only 6 sec after 49 race laps, it doesn't get much tighter. Strategies varied from a 4 stop to an almost unbelievable 2 stop by David Greco.

 

But lets start at the beginning.

 

Qualifying​

 

Pole was secured by Croatian racer Petar Brljak. (Twister 2Fast4You) with 1m29.879 -

Accompanying him on the front row from Poland Kuba Brzezinski (Origin Front Row Racing) +0.081

In Third the Slovenian racer Jernej Simoncic (GhostSpeed Racing) +0.165

Accompanying his team mate on row two and in his highest qualifying achievement in this his first FSR World Championship season was Australian racer and pro commentator Jonny Simon (GhostSpeed Racing) Team +0.180

Fifth place was taken by Greek racer Jim Parisis (Twister Racing Team) +0.222

 

 

The Race ​

 

The braking zone into turn one became chaos when Blair Disley with full fuel and cold brakes and tyres took a conservative approach to his braking marker catching Merelli by surprise who spun while attempting an evasive manouvre. Several drivers were caught up in the melee and such is the fragile nature of open-wheel race cars that it spoiled several racer plans for the afternoon.

 

 

Brljak wasted no time in asserting his grip on the race and by sector three on lap one had built a small but visible lead on the chase pack.

That was how it stayed other than for short periods amongst the pit stops when Kuba Brzezinski enjoyed the lead. Brljak was in charge here at Bahrain and at no point looked beatable, a superb drive. He also took the trifecta with pole, the win and the fastest lap and his fourth podium in four rounds.

 

 

Behind him however it got very interesting when Muhammed Patel pitted from a strong second place for his final stop at about lap 44 and was issued with a drive through for an apparent pit lane speeding infringement. It gifted second position to Parisis who has possibly now had his bad luck from Melbourne fully credited back after a little good luck in both China where Patels engine failure gifted him the win and now here where third became second.

 

What it did for race fans was drop Patel back into a fight with Kuba Brzezinski who was cruising around in a safe fourth place. Kuba seized on the chance and we were treated to a sustained battle that continued for fully 8 laps. It saw both drivers side by side for what seemed like entire sectors but certainly included sequences such as Turns 4 to 8 where its not easy getting one car on your chosen line let alone on the only line left to you. The lead in this battle was exchanged several times with dramatic attack and defence not only in DRS zones but also in for example Turn four. The fight was so close and lasted for so long we had to show you a selection of shots taken from lap 45 to lap 53.

 

If you haven't yet watched the race take my advice and at a minimum watch lap one then watch laps 45 to 53. If you have ever seen such a hard clean fight between two talented drivers, please tell me where it was.

 

The first attack occurred after Patels pit lane exit on lap 45 and the battle was not over until Brzezinski sealed the narrowest of margins into turn one on lap 53 and managed to build upon it. In all of the previous 8 laps they had been side by side into Turn one and often for the majority of sector one.

 

Cost of failure. Furthermore, unlike the Hamilton Rosberg battle of Bahrain in 2014 there was no clear air behind Patel and Brzezinski. What both these guys knew was that only 6-7 seconds back from them was ninth place! Yes that's right positions three to nine were in a 7 second section of track after 49 laps of this 57 lap race.

The gap at lap 53 Turn 1, as big as it got over 8 laps

 

The gap at the finish line, twelve laps after the battle commenced .540 sec.

I dont know about them but the crowd were exhausted.

 

Grecos 2 stop. The endurance ace knows how to manage tyres. To put it into perspective it helps to know that most drivers 2 stopped in the Pro race distance of 34 laps. The Championship distance was 57 laps. Greco ran Prime/Prime/Option and put in about 20 laps on each set of primes. To manage that on full fuel of 218 litres is very impressive. Did it work? He gained tweleve spots from the very back of the grid and finished eigth in a very tightly contested race, so yes is probably the answer.

 

The results (Top 10).​

 

1. Petar Brljak Twister 2Fast4You 1h29m46.049 (also fastest lap 1m31.097)

 

2. Jim Parisis Twister Racing Team +24.586

 

3. Kuba Brzezinski Origin Front Row Racing+32.253

 

4. Muhammed Patel Twister 2Fast4You +32.791. Patel gained five positions and without the drive through was in line to gain seven.

 

5. Marco Conti BBR Life4Racing +35.898

 

6. John-Eric Saxén Avid Chronic Racing Team +36.291 Second biggest improver of the race with a six place gain over his qualifying position.

 

7 Francesco Bigazzi Eventa Simracing +37.451A solid race from a qualifying of sixth.

 

8. David Greco Twister Racing Team +38.733 Cunning two stop gains him twelve places from Back of the Grid! into eighth place.

 

9 Enrico Di Loreto BBR Life4Racing +49.514. A great drive after a faultless lap one turn one contact spun him off the track.

 

10. Jonny Simon GhostSpeed Racing Team. +51.298 Jonny threatened a top five early on from his second row qualifying but an error cost him dearly and it was a strong fight back to get into the points.

 

Minor Honors

Fastest Lap Petar Brljak Twister 2Fast4You 1m31.097

 

Biggest improver David Greco Twister Racing Team .Twelve places from Back of the Grid! into eighth place.

 

 

World Championship Standings​

 

Full standings HERE

 

 

Brief standings discussion

 

Leader Petar Brjak 76 points: Results P3,P2,P2,P1, After 4 rounds this driver has incredibly not finished off the podium. He has also beaten both Parisis and Patel on pace and now looks more of a danger man for the Championship title hunt.

 

Second Jim Parisis 68 points Results DNF, P1,P1,P2. When your worst result is a second place you are in the frame!

 

Third Kuba Brzezinski 51 points Results P2, P4, P7 (pen), P3.

 

Worst result on track of fourth. Great race craft. Polish racer should stay in the mix.

 

Fourth Muhammed Patel 39 points. Results P4, P2, DNF (from lead), P4. Patel has the pace to win races and cut the defecit. He needs to beat his team mates to catch them up.

 

Fifth Marco Conti 25 points. Having scored in only two races still fifth and been on the podium. Will we see more?

 

Equal 5th Daniel Kiss.

 

Seventh John-Eric Saxén. 19 points

 

Eighth Francesco Bigazzi 18 points

 

Ninth David Greco 16 points

 

Tenth Morgan Morand 10 points

 

 

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