staffwcsleague
Nov 3, 2019
Edited: Nov 3, 2019

Week 1 Race Report

Kasdorp and Kappet cleanup at Castle Combe

 

 

 

Pure Racing in Porsches brought to you by WCS.

Porsche cup cars, feature and reverse grid sprint races, superpole qualifying to further spice things up. Sounds like the perfect Monday nights racing action? Lets find out! The W6S Racing Series by WCS league kicked off at Castle Combe Circuit in the UK to much fan fair and excitement.

 

After the ever popular Megane series and the trend breaking 1000$ KO series, WCS is back bringing you more spectacular action . The brand new W6S Racing Series,features the Porsche cup cars on rFactor 2. This event is made possible by Symsync pro, Simnews.tv

The w6s series will visit 6 demanding tracks around the world and 14 well known simracing teams have signed up to fight it out for the crown.

After days of anticipation we finally got to see the driver lineup in action - qualifying time for round 1. A crucial session as the classic, fast flowing, Castle Combe circuit provides few opportunities for overtaking.

 

Qualifying

Nerves always play a big part in a season opener, and as expected a few drivers pushed too hard and crashed. At the head of the field usual suspects put up impressive times. Racing for team RSR this season, Yuri Kasdorp, the reigning WCS Megane champion grabbed pole emphatically, a clear 4 tenths ahead of sim racing veteran Risto Kappet in EVAL racing colors . Impressive performances form Heigo Poom,Sheldon Scott Muscat and Jack Mayor, saw them line up 3rd ,4th and 5th respectively. Previous series Champion Chris Shepard was in the mix in 6th .

 

RACE 1

Green flag, the moment we had all been waiting for! Risto Kappet made the most of it by a brilliant start and passed Kasdorp for the lead before turn 1. The opening lap of the 20 lap feature race was relatively clean and tidy except for a few inevitable bits of paint-trading in the packed mid field. Shepard was a big gainer moving up-to p3 while Muscat dropped to 9th.

After the calm of the first lap things got stormy in the next few laps . We witnessed many close battles up and down the grid, the biggest one being for Caitlin Penny’s 11th spot, with no fewer than 7 drivers involved. There are no battles without bloodshed and a few cars were left facing the wrong direction when the dust had settled.

 

Up at the front Kappet was leading, but it was clear Kasdrop had no intention of giving him any breathing space. The two ran nose to tail for the first half of the race. On lap 14 Kappet, under pressure made his first significant error, running wide on the exit of the Esses. Kasdrop pounced to take back the lead.

 

There was changes to the final podium spot as well, Chris Shepard was unable to match the pace of the top two and fell into the clutches of Adrian Campfield. After a short battle, Adrian got past Chris to p3 . Adrian held onto the final podium spot till the end, an impressive drive by the ST racing driver who started 7th on the grid. Shepard's race went from bad to worse as Poom caught and passed him and then he was awarded a drive-through penalty for minor track limit violations.

 

The battles raged on for the minor placings but it was hard to take your eyes off the battle for the lead . Kappet after his mistake was in no mood to let Kasdorp drive away to an easy win, was hounding the Dutchman every inch of the way, trying every trick in the book to get past. Kasdorp did not make any mistake under pressure and defended all the attacks from the Estonian in p2. There was absolutely nothing between the top 2 when the chequered flag fell. Yuri Kasdorp Held on for the clean sweep of Pole, fastest lap and win. The perfect way to start the season.

 

RACE 2

 

The shorter reverse grid sprint races is where the fireworks happen, when tempers fray and sparks fly! Top 10 from the finishing order from the feature race is reversed for the 10 lap sprint. This meant that it was a GT omega RPM Esports front row lockout with Sheldon Scott Muscat on pole and team mate and fellow Maltese driver, Dean Vella In p2.

 

When the lights went out it was not an ideal start for the pole sitter Muscat and a tangle with Chris Butcher had lost both drivers several positions even before the end of the opening lap. Vella held onto p2 but the ideal start was again made by the EVAL drivers, Argo Teder moving into the lead and Risto Kappet already into p3. Yuri Kasdorp was not far way in p4.

The much anticipated mid field battle was raging and on lap 3 the closely battling cars made contact, leaving a few limping back to the pits in damaged cars.

 

Back at the leading group with Vella having dropped of podium contention it was Eval 1-2. Kappet slipped past team mate and fellow Estonian, Teder to take the lead and try and build a gap. Kasdorp managed to find his way past Teder as well shortly. about half race distance the top 2 looked exactly like race 1. An early indication of how the Championship battle will shape up perhaps?

 

Risto Kappet won race 2 by a comfortable margin. Yuri Kasdorp finished p2 but he was far from comfortable as he was being shadowed by Heigo Poom and had to defend from the Neptune Simracing driver who rounded off the podium and took the fastest lap honors as well.

 

The teams will be travelling Symmons Plains Raceway in Australia for round 2 of the championship on the 4th of November.You can catch all the action Live on the WCS YouTube channel starting at 19:35 GMT .We hope to see you there !

 

 

 

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    Nov 21, 2019

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    Nov 10, 2019

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