We are now officially past the halfway mark of the Forza Racing Championship Series 1! This past Wednesday saw Round 3 of the Wednesday Showdown races, featuring the best racers from Europe and North America battling for supremacy and for position on the ForzaRC global leaderboard. With some new cars and tracks on hand – and some ugly weather conditions to boot – the action was awesome from flag to flag. Johniwanna took the time to recap all the action here.
EMEA Race 1
Kate Osbourne introduced Mugello as the first track for the EMEA racers who would be taking the Chevrolet Camaro SS through those Tuscan turns. BAM Seven, AMS Roadrunner and JSR Rossi were at the top of the grid stacking, while G2Laige languished at the bottom. It was a sea of yellow heading down the front straight as the drivers jockeyed for position coming into Turn 1. Roadrunner had a sim twitch issue that dropped him to the end of the pack. Laige moved up to ninth by lap 2. JSR teammates Rossi and Mitch sat safely in second and third and TPR b0x laid in wait for an opportunity in fourth. On lap four, Laige followed Virus through the chicanes to take seventh. Seven seemed comfortable in the clean air of the lead, not really feeling any pressure from the JSR boys behind him. Perhaps JSR was content to settle for the lower steps of the podium, but they were not pushing the pace, or each other. Roadrunner must have been pleased to work his way up to ninth given what happened. After adjudication, no penalties were dealt and it was established that Roadrunner simply made a mistake that cost him dearly. The race ended with Seven, then Rossi, then Mitch.
https://youtu.be/yWZYmfLsywo EMEA Race 2
Race 2 took place at VIR North, with Seven leading off the grid and the boys of JSR ready to fight for first. The drivers were set to drive their front-wheel drive 2004 Honda Civic Type R’s in the rain. The thunder and lightning threatened during the first lap as the field sorted themselves out. The rain began to saturate the track through lap three and there wasn’t much shuffling until Rossi went off in Turn 1 during lap four. That slip cost Rossi six places. The rain let up on lap six and Mitch put the move on Seven then furthermore made it stick. At the end of lap seven, again, the rain began to fall and rear ends were slipping all over. Mitch just stretched out his lead and looked like he actually enjoyed the rain. Before and after adjudication, it was Mitch for the win, with Seven in second and b0x in third.
EMEA Race 3
In a race that turned things on its end with a reverse grid, drivers set up for 12 laps at Indianapolis on the Grand Prix Circuit in Honda-powered IndyCars. The front-line drivers were ASIX, Deano, and Zermatt. Laige was stuck in the middle. By lap two Rossi and Roadrunner had a spat that resulted in Rossi passing (in his wood-liveried racecar, no less). Of the initial leaders Zermatt fell back to 10th while Deano tried to hold his own for the moment in third. Rossi continued his climb and got to third with Laige on his tail. Roadrunner fought back, making the battle for third perhaps the most compelling of the race. In the process, Laige got all the way to second showing his racecraft at its best, until he tapped the back of ASIX. Then, Laige and Roadrunner got into it making the lap side-by-side until Roadrunner edged him out and held on for the win. After adjudication Laige was set back to tenth place with a 10-second penalty that brought Daveyskills and b0x up to second and third.
North America Race 1
Harmonic, AMS Vanquish, and TX3 Bilysoo made up the top of the grid for race one while several relative newcomers made their first appearances. The first appearance of Mugello as a race destination for six laps in the Chevrolet Camaro SS gave the drivers something else new and different. Then the fight was on early for the lead as TX3 Lightning moved up from sixth to third. A nice move from Veloce ForceOne on Lightning in Turn 1 lap three turned up the heat for the top three spots. The final lap battle between Vanquish and Harmonic upped the intensity even more. Failing under pressure, Vanquish went off on the final corner and let Harmonic and Force One slip by. Upon adjudication both Harmonic and Vanquish were given five-second penalties that made ForceOne the winner and put Lightning in second.
https://youtu.be/Gq0uPRxHwc4 North America Race 2
Race 2 took place at VIR North in the wet, and it was undertaken in the 2004 Honda Civic Type-R. Front-wheel drive? Rain? An interesting combination by any gauge. ForceOne, Lightning, and Harmonic respectively made up the top of the grid lining up for eight laps. The fleet of VTECs all kicked in and the swarm of bees fell in line looking for opportunity. By lap three the rain set in, and by Turn 1 on lap five it got slippery as Lightning tried to make a move, but ended up sliding off course taking ForceOne with him. The pair fell back to fourth and fifth with Vanquish taking the lead. ForceOne made a nice pass on Venom on lap seven for third. As the rain began to let off, Vanquish crossed the finish line, with Harmonic and ForceOne following him in the distance. A five-second penalty for Lightning put him in sixth.
North America Race 3
When the votes came in, it was the #2 Penske Chevy IndyCar that was chosen for the final race at the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit. This was of course a reverse grid rollout and saw our newcomers TormentoesPiano3, ChirpChirp, and Hillbilly TX lead the lineup. With 12-laps scheduled, it was plenty of time for anyone to finish on top. Turn 2 radically changed things right off with Bilysoo going off and Vanquish and company jumping from the rear to the lead. The battle was then on between Vanquish, Lightning, and ForceOne. Lap five Venom made a nice move in Turn 1 to move to fifth. A lap eleven punt of DrBecKx would likely result in a third penalty for McQueen. By lap 12 the leaders had spaced themselves out, and Vanquish took the win with Lightning behind him and ForceOne settling for third.
