With the return of More Female Racers for a fourth season, we saw the grid head to Monza for the opening round. With GTWR taking wins in both Pro and Silver class, could they keep their opponents at bay as we headed to Spa? Reigning champions Griphax Engineering were hot on their heels in Pro, as Aloo Gobi took pole, but the fight would go right down to the final few minutes.
Sara Dove and Andrea Capoccia make it two-for-two
Lining up right behind Griphax Engineering was GTWR R8G Female Racing 1 – the squad piloted by Sara Dove and Andrea Capoccia who opened their season campaign with a bang, taking the win at Monza two weeks ago. However, during the first stint, Sara Dove at the helm of the GTWR R8G car couldn’t make an impact on Aloo Gobi at the front of the field, as the leading three teams sat line astern.
It was in the pits that the stalemate would end, as Griphax Engineering dropped behind GTWR R8G Female Racing 1. With the first round of driver swaps completed, could Harry Phillips catch Andrea Capoccia and reclaim the lead? Well, simply put, no. In fact, it was Capoccia that was in the driving seat of the race, as he extended GTWR R8G’s lead to around 4 seconds – a crucial gap that would come to decide the race.
As we headed into the third and final stint, Gobi became the hunter, and Dove the hunted. Lapping faster than her rival, Aloo Gobi was on a mission, as she looked to catch and pass Sara Dove before the clock hit zero. However, the end came too soon for Griphax Engineering, as despite taking nearly five seconds out of GTWR R8G, Sara Dove would hold on, and claim win number two of the season. In third came Mia Swensen and Yves Fild of Intruder Racing Team, who dropped away from the top two in the last stint, with the top four rounded out by R8G eSports, who had a strong race coming back from seventh on the grid.
GTWR R8G take to the top once again in Silver Class
Well, it was once again a pretty good day for GTWR R8G, as Sophie Aeronwen and Matt Muirhead climbed to the top of the podium for the second time in a row. Taking pole, it was a pretty flawless run from them, as they remained unchallenged in Silver class. In fact, their main rivalries came from Pro class; during the first stint, Aeronwen wasn’t far behind Mia Swensen, and when it came to the latter third of the race, she was fighting with R8G eSports driver, Yvonne Houffelaar, although it wasn’t for points.
It was certainly a strong race from the Silver championship leaders, although, they did have one scare right at the end of the race. Amidst Aeronwen’s battle with Houffelaar, she made a mistake at arguably the worst point, spinning around at the top of Raidillon with under a minute left on the clock. Luckily, there wasn’t too much damage to report after narrowly missing Houffelaar and only scraping the wall, and the gap they had built meant they could retain the class lead.
Meanwhile, Denise Pope from Wild Things Racing was putting on quite the show. Going solo this time around, she was trying to make her way up from seventh in class. With pace on her side, she had a pretty eventful race as she battled away in Silver class, although, it wouldn’t be quite that smooth sailing. Getting caught up in an incident with Jenny Camulgi in stint one and a slight collision with the Rookie Monsters squad in stint two, she wasn’t given it easy. However, she would continue to make moves, and come home a solid fourth in class.
A difficult day for Turn1 in Silver class
Whilst one giant of More Female Racers, GTWR R8G, took a win in both Pro and Silver class, another giant of the series, Turn1, had a bit of a tougher day in the office. With multiple teams entered into Silver class, they were always going to get close on track, but, they make have gotten a little too close.
Off the start, three of Turn1’s entries were in formation, getting around the first few minutes fourth, fifth and sixth in class. However, that sadly would change. An attempted move from Jenny Camugli on Selene Witcher through the Fagnes chicane would end in disaster, as the teammates collided, sending Witcher into a half spin. It wouldn’t just be them that would suffer though, as Camugli and her teammate Bowler would get a 15-second time penalty to add to the misery.
It wasn’t all bad though. Natalie Lee and Kirk Heath would take a strong second place in class, propelling them to second in the class championship too.
Luna Nera dominate Pro-AM
With 4 classes on the More Female Racers, there’s action all over the pack. However, in Pro-AM, Luna Nera has had a very strong season so far, taking two wins on the bounce just like GTWR have in Pro and Silver class. Last round in Monza, the whole Pro-AM field was very competitive, making an impact on much of Silver class, but despite some pressure in the second stint, Luna Nera drivers Eliza Indriani and Vojta Pavlicek would take a stand out win, as well as being a very strong thirteenth overall. With this momentum, they would dominate here in Spa.
Leading from the outset, both Indriani and Pavlicek suffered from very little pressure from class compatriots, beating their nearest rivals by over a whole minute. The gap wasn’t quite that big for the entire race, but they never really saw another Pro-AM car apart from at the very start, securing their championship lead.
What’s next for More Female Racers S4?
In two weeks time, we are heading to Imola. Playing host to season two’s wet weather finale, can we expect the same conditions for round three? No matter the conditions though, Coach Dave Academy has always got your back with their high-quality setup bundles to help you extract all the pace you can, no matter your car of choice.
At SimGrid, to make sure we always cover the action in the best way possible, we always have a gallery filled with amazing screenshots from our photographer, so if you want to check them out, you can take a trip to our Flickr gallery and let us know what you think!
With GTWR R8G and Griphax Engineering battling away in Pro class and the championship fight hotting up in Silver class, it is sure to be a race you won’t want to miss.
