| Race report by Martin Hudy |
track
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| The GP World Cup was the last big touring car event in 2005, and as such it attracted all the best European drivers as well plenty of top US drivers. The race was held in Preverenges, 60km from Geneva. With the extensive list of drivers we could expect some very tight racing. This race was very important for Team XRAY since the all-new T2 was officially debuted and raced by the whole team. Coming to such a big race with the brand new car, with no previous experience on set-up and tuning, we were bit afraid but excited at the same time as we knew the new car is a big improvement in performance. |
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Ryan Lee
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Team XRAY had Jilles Groskamp, Alex Stocker, Michal Bok, Ryan Lee (from Korea) and many good drivers from France and Swiss in place, with me and Juraj (who decided to fly-in to this race just in the morning when I was heading to airport, but it was the best decision as Juraj helped us tremendously with the fine-tuning).
The practice rounds were scheduled for Thursday and Friday, so we had some time to work quickly on the car to find the best set-up, so as usual we started to work very actively and professionally in the team spirit. |
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track
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| The track had at the beginning low grip but it started to build-up quickly. Having the XRAY Multi-Flex Technology™ in our T2 cars showed and confirmed that this is the BEST innovation and revolution that has been made in the touring cars in the last decade â“ thank you Juraj for inventing this brilliant idea. Having the possibility to quickly adjust to the changing grip was a simple play with few screws which we added or removed from the chassis and top deck without exchanging any single part. This saved us a lot of time which we could instead use on fine tuning and we were much more relaxed and could concentrate on racing. The T2 was the only car that worked from the first practice round to the last final round thanks to the Multi-Flex Technology™ while other teams were trying to âścatch upâť with very hard work by changing and mixing plenty of different parts in the car (including top decks) to accommodate their cars to the changing grip. |
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Jilles Groskamp
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I was extremely happy with my T2â™s performance already from the first round. Jilles had a little bit less grip than I, as he was trying and testing some different set-up approaches and to provide his experience to the rest of the team. This was giving us confirmation we are going the right way. For Saturday Jilles changed his set-up to a close set-up of mine and he was then back on pace.
I have to say that the practice on Friday were the most competitive practice I have ever experienced â“ everybody in the hall was approaching the practices and preparation so professionally that I had the feeling that the level of professionalism, dedication, and racing was like a World Championship final race. |
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pits
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Race started on Saturday with three rounds of qualifiers. The best result was counted and the top 32 drivers were then nominated to the Carpet World Cup with the Reedy race racing format. This means you have 6 different rounds with different drivers in your group, always starting from a different position, and your 4 best results count. The rest of the drivers continued in open race.
The qualifiers were very tight. The first round was won by Andy Moore in front of Steen Graversen and Marc Rheinard. I made one mistake and finished 6th. Alex finished 8th. The second qualifier was won by Marc 1sec in front of me. I took a lead one minute before the end but after a small mistake I finished second one second behind Marc. |
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Juraj Hudy
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To get TQ I had to beat Marc in the last qualifier, so I worked with Juraj on some fine-tuning of the set-up to gain from the increasing grip. I was completely confident in my T2 which allowed me to concentrate for the racing, so I was calm and confident I could win this time. Marc started from the first position while I have started from the second position. Just after the start I have pushed on Marc already and cruised tightly behind his rear waiting for him to either make a mistake or to give me a small gap to pass him. After two minutes Marc hit a curb which gave me a tiny room to pass him which of course I took advantage of, and easily passed Marc. For the remaining three minutes Marc was trying to push on the rear of my car, but I did not make any mistakes and set new TQ in front of Marc and Andy Moore who finished two seconds behind us. Jilles finished 6th since his car was a bit more nervous which we found afterwards was from the leading edge of the rear wing.
Results after qualifiers:
1. Martin Hudy XRAY T2
2. Marc Rheinard Tamiya
3. Andy Moore HotBodies
4. David Spashett Tamiya
5. Steen Graversen Tamiya
6. Jilles Groskamp XRAY T2
7. Thomas Pumpler HotBodies
8. Teemu Leino Schumacher
9. Chris Craigner Yokomo
10.Toni Rheinard Tamiya |
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Michal Bok
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| Racing continued on Saturday with two rounds of the World Cup race. Drivers were mixed in 4 heats and each heat was attended by 8 drivers. In the World Cup besides me and Jilles, there were also XRAYâ™s Michal Bok (11th), Alex Stocker, and Joan Urbain from France who all raced with the new T2. |
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The Reedy Race format is many times more about the luck but we had some exciting and thrilling race, too. A good start in first two races saw Marc winning both races. A good start was also had by Jilles, and he won one final and in the other one he finished second. I had a good start and won the first final and in the second final I finished third. I was driving almost all the time in 2nd place behind Teemu but then I made a small mistake and Marc (who was behind me) moved in front of me. Marc was very lucky because Teemu made a mistake in the last lap and Marc won in front of Teemu and me.
Sunday:
The Sunday race continued with the remaining four final rounds. Again, I suffered bad luck. I started from the middle and after one minute I was in battle with Toni Rheinard for first position. Behind the chicane I moved inside of the corner and on the straight when I was passing him, Toni sent me off the track. This dropped me to last place but I drove hard and at the end finished fifth. Jilles had more luck than me and won his final in front of Andy Moore â“ with a very tight but very clean and polite racing between of them. Marc finished in his final third.
If I wanted to win, I had to win all the remaining three finals which seemed to me and to everybody as a âśmission impossible.âť Though I had very good next two final runs which both of them I won. In the fourth final I won in front of Hupo Honigl. In the fifth final I won in front of Billy Easton. Both drivers, Hupo and Billy, were very correct and drove very politely â“ thank you. Billy, in the chicane, attacked me but was very fair to me and waited until I took a lead again. On Sunday, Marc was very fast and won both finals. Jilles finished 4th in the third round, and won again in the fourth round. Other XRAY drivers had a lot of bad luck. Both Alex and Michal Bok were super fast but there were so much traffic and accidents and they just had not enough luck.
The last round was very important for me because it would decide all. If I won, I would be the overall winner. For me there was nothing else on my mind than to drive sharply, smoothly, and safely as my start position was at the very end of the staring line ⓠ8th. As the grip built up meanwhile I had to stiffen the car again a bit. Thanks to Multi-Flex Technology™ I added the rear alu stands which I did not use before and the car was stiff enough for the current grip but was still enough flexible to give me sufficient grip and required steering. |
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Jilles, Marc & Martin
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| In the last final I started from the last place and in around 3rd minute I moved to the 4th position. I was cruising at the 4th position for some laps when the two drivers in front of me got into traffic and I passed them both on a short straight just in the last lap. I tried to push as much as I could to catch on the first driver but he was simply too far and within the few remaining corners I got in the last lap I could not anything, so I finished second. My car was so good that if I got even half more lap I could probably easily catch him and win, but that is my guesswork only and this last final round is already history with the confirmed result for me â“ a second place. |
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Martin, Marc & Jilles
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It was a bit disappointing for me as my T2 was on the rails but after some time when all the emotions calmed down I realized that we all did what nobody expected â“ we came with the all-new car and we have dominated the race easily and if we had a more bit luck, we would not only have gotten the TQ and two podium finishes, but we would have the those two podium finishes at the very top. Still it is a great result and great experience that gives us so much confidence and expectations for the coming 2006 racing season.
Final World Cup Results:
1. Marc Rheinard - Tamiya
2. Martin Hudy â“ XRAY T2
3. Jilles Groskamp â“ XRAY T2
4. Teemu Leino - Schumacher
5. Andy Moore â“ Hot Bodies
6. Todd Hodge - Losi
7. Jon Bowden â“ Hot Bodies
8. David Spashett - Tamiya
9. Jean-Marc Betticher â“ Hot Bodies
10. Thomas Pumpler - Yokomo |
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