2015 Eastfield Arena Auto Race

The 2015 Eastfield Arena Auto Race was a SUPRAC Cup race held on September 13, 2015 in Omfattandestad, Reykjaholar, Koana Islands. It was the sixth race of the inaugural SUPRAC Cup season, and was the second race to run at a Superspeedway that season. It set a record for most number of lead changes in a race, with 26.

Background

In the week lead-up to the race, Whistler Motorsport was forced to issue a public statement, along with their drivers Boris Visser and Benoît Douay following their incident during last weekends road race in Omfattandestad. Visser publicly apologised for the incident, saying he didn’t react in time to Douay’s car. Media personalities and fans alike believed this was not the case, with both drivers seeming to have grown a dislike of one another. Cubley Racing driver Fred Gleeson mentioned that his team believed the incident was deliberate by Visser. Benoît Douay appeared at a charity event on Thursday the 10th of September, but refused to answer any questions, stating that the issue has been resolved and the team is working together to secure the championship.

Autocrust driver Jack O’Connell praised his team during the week at a sponsor event, suggesting the team hasn’t had the results they were expecting so far this season, but that a Top 5 finish will happen sooner, rather than later.

In the Drivers Championship, Benoît Douay moved into top spot following Boris Visser’s retirement, whilst Fred Gleeson sat third. Bill Redhead and Frans van Schooten rounded out the top 5. Lehman Technik’s Ross McRae jumped two spots into 6th following his last lap victory last weekend.

Whistler Motorsport, despite their off-track dramas, still sat on top of the Team Championship, 141 points clear of Cubley Racing. Lehmann Technik jumped above Team MRT following their win, whilst Oryx slipped behind Arcuri Motorsport to 15th, tied on 8 points.

Qualifying

Despite a tumultuous week, Boris Visser claimed Pole for the race with a time of 26.379 with an average speed of 341.186km/h (212.003mph). He edged out Eliott Lindvall in the Team MRT car, who had his best ever qualifying to date. Championship leader Benoît Douay was 10th, whilst Fred Gleeson said he was happy with his cars race pace, following a 7th-place qualifying position.

Super Nova had a fantastic qualifying, with Francis Forestier and Fabian Schroth locking out the second row together, with van Shooten lining up 11th on row 6. It was also a great day for Matijn van Poppel and the Adams Motorsport team. The 33-year old qualified 6th, smashing his best qualifying position of 19th, which he set 5 weeks earlier.

After Simon van Steen’s excellent debut last week, filling in for the suspended Ferdi Arnold, the 17-year old couldn’t reproduce his 8th-place start, and qualified 30th, beating team-mate Dario Heinrich (34th).

Team Mercury became the second team in SUPRAC Cup history to fail to see any cars qualify for a race, whilst Sjoerd Schott failed to qualify for the third-straight week, putting him under pressure. Oliver McGuyver (Lehmann Technik) also failed to qualify for the third straight time.

Race

A thrilling race that saw a total of 26 lead changes from 13 different drivers, including two retirements by drivers leading the race, was eventually won by Sovereign’s Noel Jernsten, marking him as the sixth winner of a SUPRAC Cup race, and Sovereign as the fifth team to win a race this season.

Race Report

As the race got underway, Blake Gilmartin, sitting fourth, pulled off the track and onto the apron, complaining of an electrical problem. After limping his Emerald car back to the pit lane, he was able to get going again, but never made up any laps he lost and finished unclassified. Just eight laps later, Martijn van Poppel was forced to pull out of the draft and retire with a brake issue; he was also fourth at the time, unable to take advantage of his excellent day the day before.

On Lap 25, Pole sitter Boris Visser moved up to the high line and ceded the lead to Lehman Technik’s Ross McRae. It was a short-lived lead however, as the number 52 suffered a poor stop and slipped to 7th place. This gave Elliot Lindvall the lead for two laps before he was overtaken by Super Nova’s Francis Forestier.

The second round of pit stops provided further drama when Elliot Lindvall – having retaken the lead from Ross McRae once again – went above the blend line on pit exit and was hit with a drive-through penalty that had seemingly put him out of contention back in 38^th place on exit, before recovering to finish 6th. Lindvall’s error handed the lead to Jeremy Whinnett, who led for 34 straight laps; the most consecutive laps led during the race. Whistler Motorsport’s Boris Visser also dropped a place on the same lap following a fuel canister issue when he was 7^th.

KALK’s Karlheinz Schmitt and Benoît Douay, sitting 11^th and 12^th following the pit stops went on a charge, linking up to gain 6 places and move into the top 10 for the first time in the race. Their progress was only halted by Boris Visser’s aggressive move on Max Arias for 8^th place after the Sovereign driver had worked his way up from 24^th at race start.

Lap 94 brought out the first caution of the day when Red Bull Racing’s Austin Parkin got in a tangle with Autocrust’s Jack O’Connell. The latter was forced down onto the track apron, sending them both onto the infield grass with O’Connell hitting the barriers hard. 22-year old O’Connell was forced to retire from the race, whilst Parkin came back out down laps. He eventually rejoined the lead lap, but the damage to his car was too extensive to finish any higher than 29^th.

Jeppe Passer – sitting 24^th at the time – suffered a pit lane violation on Lap 105 for non-compliant re-fueling just 5 laps before Ember Engineering’s Jakob Schweitzer became the third retirement of the day, grumbling about brake problems. Boris Visser’s busy day went from bad to worse when he was forced to pit out of sequence for improper lug nut installation. That caused the Championship contender to slip from 7^th to 37^th on Lap 120.

The main talking point of the day came on Lap 130, when Anthony Crow, having worked his way into the race lead after a poor qualifying, banged wheels with second-placed Fabian Schroth, causing the Red Bull Racing driver to retire. Crow, only in the lead for two laps, was shoved off the race track and made contact with the inside barrier. Crow was said to be displeased with Schroth post-race, vowing revenge. It summed up Red Bull Racing’s day as they once again failed to score points for the second time this season.

On Lap 142, rookie Simon van Steen retired with clutch issues, unable to replicate his fantastic debut race last week, lingering in the back half of the field for the entirety of the race to that point. Four laps later, Lars Peter Wiktorsson was slugged with a pit lane violation for speeding on pit exit. He dropped from 23^rd to 34^th.

Ember Engineering’s Henrik Krook, having s steady race near the Top 10 for much of the afternoon, started to complain of tightness during turn-in on Lap 150. He was 7^th at the time, before eventually falling down the order to place 30^th by race end. Just 6 laps later Super Nova held the top three spots, led by Frans van Schooten.

Late drama saw two caution flags when Cubley Racing’s Fred Gleeson moved to the front of the pack but ran over some debris on Lap 168, which caused his tyre to deflate and for him to spin out into the infield, becoming the second retirement by a driver in the lead of the race. An intense restart following the caution period saw the lead change hands six times before Sovereign’s Noel Jernsten (pictured) seized the race lead, holding on for the remaining 20 laps, several of which included another caution period after Sander Bolck and Lars Peter Wiktorsson came together at the back of the pack, prompting their retirements.

Championship Standings After the Race