FR Qualifying Oulton Park

[fantasytoca]

So, no Lewis, Di Resta on Pole, Lloyd in 2nd, Stoddart 3rd and Rossiter back in last place, presumably following a mishap - maybe someone at the circuit can confirm.

Stonking performance from Byrne in the Falcon car in Fourth place - looks like he could definitely be one to watch next season assuming he gets a drive..

[AndyM]

Rossiters car came along on the back of a low loader looking a bit of a mess. Had to rebuild he tyre wall apparently.

[Daisy]

Di Resta must be flying, he is one second quicker than Lloyds time in first qualifying, and 7 tenths in second.

[fantasytoca]

No Rossiter in the Race 1 results so presumably they couldn't repair his car in time.

Nice to see Ben Reeves and Dan Welch finish a race - good finale to the Season for them.

[jamescrofts]

Anyone know where are Jensen Motorsport?

[Mr Jinxx]

Look at the speed traps in qualifying! (Ignore Charles Hollins who had a tow)

[fantasytoca]

That was some low loader!!!!

[Mr Jinxx]

I keep saying that Motaworld don't have a good wet setup, and I'm right eh?? Didn't I tell you?? Well, didn't I???

Alex Lloyd is/was 1 second+ off the pace, and his team-mates, Susie Stoddart and Mike Spencer, are about a further 1.5 seconds slower than Alex. Look at the race times - Susie is nearly the slowest car on the grid! How crazy is that? And Ben Reeves is half a second quicker than Alex! So was Brandon Thomas. Motaworld, as a team, were possibly the slowest team on the grid.

If you look at the qualifying times, looking at the sector times, Lloyd was 7th. There were only a few laps in the drizzly wet qualifying to put in a lap, so it was lucky for Alex that he had had the previous experience of "sudden death" one-lap qualifying! He put 2 laps in within 2 hundredths of his theoretical best lap, whereas (fortunately for him) all the others in front of him were much much more inconsistent. That alone gave Alex 2nd place in both races - the car itself was only quick enough for 7th at best.

I know I may be accused of being partisan, but I believe Alex's great strengths to have been his performances under pressure - whether that be the one-lap qualifying or the cool defence under pressure from far quicker cars.

Let me ask you this ... if Ben Reeves is 1/2 a second quicker than Alex, how quick would Alex be in a car which had grip? If Alex was 1.5 seconds faster than Susie in the same setup car, then how much faster is he than Ben Reeves??

Look at the qualifying split times. Look at the race times. I truly don't understand how Motaworld can have such badly-behaved cars. All their drivers were of the same mind. Alex reckoned that this was the worst handling car he had ever driven - like he was on slicks that had been treated with Fairy Liquid.

He tried to push really hard, watching Conway in his mirrors gobbling him up at over a second a lap, which on lap 7 resulted in his (Alex's) recalcitrant car sliding wide at Cascades (*note to Paul Raynor - he didn't spin!! Just slid wide whilst pushing hard*). The car just could not take it. He said it was not possible to push it any harder - he just had to nurse it along. No damage was done - actually the car was getting quicker and quicker (albeit over a second off the pace). It was just rubbish, he said!!

I'm not meaning to denounce Daniel Welch and Ben Reeves and Brandon Thomas, but with respect, if Ben Reeves is 1/2 a second a lap quicker than Alex, and nearly 2 seconds a lap quicker than Susie Stoddart and Mike Spencer, then you know Motaworld haven't got their low-grip setup sorted.

Tomorrow will decide who is 2nd and who is 3rd in the Championship between Alex Lloyd and James Rossiter. Lloyd is only 6 points ahead of James after dropped rounds. He is starting from 2nd, where Rossiter (having spun off in qualifying) is starting from the back of the grid.

But if Conway was over a second quicker than Alex, then you have to assume Rossiter will be quicker still. Neither driver professes to care too much about 2nd or 3rd, if they can't win (which they can't). If it's dry, Motaworld will be back on the case. If it's wet, you have to assume that Motaworld will again be the slowest team, and Rossiter will be in with a very real chance. There will almost certainly be safety cars, which will play into Rossiter's hands. It should be an interesting race!

[Mr Jinxx]

Sorry about the above! Bit of frustration coming out. To the casual bystander it just looks like Alex isn't very quick when the grip level goes down, and it looked like he made a mistake yesterday and damaged the car. But he didn't. It looked like he was quick in qualifying but dropped from 2nd to 5th in the race, but it wasn't like that. The car was slow in qualifying - it's just that, with the red flags, the drivers were only able to do a couple of flying laps, and Alex was the only one to be able to string together two near-perfect laps. It flattered the car, but in a 14 lap race, reality came shining through.

It's all a bit like a swan. Looks serene on the surface, but behind the scenes, under the water, is having to paddle like crazy!!

[BAR Babe]

JVA seem to have a great wet set-up. Glew managed to get fastest time at a Silverstone test earlier in the year, and Hollings and di Resta both were at the front yesterday.