2015 Ruysdael Auto Race

The 2015 Ruysdael Auto Race was a SUPRAC Cup race held on September 20, 2015 in Ruysdael, Toivakka, Koana Islands. It was the seventh race of the inaugural SUPRAC Cup season, and was the last race in Koana Islands before the Kustlinje Road Course in November. It was the second time a race held a short track, and is the shortest race track on the SUPRAC calendar, at just 0.363 miles (0.584km).

Background

In what proved to be a quiet week in the lead-up to the race, the only notable event was Lehmann Technik’s Ross McRae was arrested in Omfattandestad on the Monday night following last weeks race for drunk and disorderly conduct. Although he was released without charge, Lehmann Technik boss Tobias Wagner took a dim view of the incident, banning McRae for two races after an internal investigation concluded on Thursday. Despite the ban, McRae was given the opportunity to race in Ruysdael, to give the team a chance to find a suitable replacement.

Max Arias praised his team, Sovereign, suggesting that they can build on Noel Jernsten’s win last weekend and potentially finish inside the Top 3 in the Team Championship. He appeared on the same TV segment that Frans van Schooten appeared in during the week. Both drivers flew to Zuidgelders capital Glinden for a preview of the upcoming SUPRAC Cup races taking place in the country during October along with Whistler Motorsport driver, and current championship leader Benoît Douay.

Douay held a 15-point lead going into the Ruysdael race over Super Nova’s Frans van Schooten. Ross McRae sat third, 2 points further back, but with a two-race suspension hanging over him, he is likely to slip behind Whistler’s Boris Visser.

In the Team Championship, Whistler Motorsport continues to hold onto top spot, a place they’ve held since the beginning of the season, with a 111-point advantage over second-placed Super Nova on 255 points. Cubley Racing sits third 45 points further back, with Emerald and Lehman Technik rounding out the top 5. Red Bull Racing, who have had a thoroughly disappointing start to the season, sit 6th, with time running out if they are to make a serious push for the title.

Qualifying

Benoît Douay and Red Bull Racing’s Austin Parkin took it in turns to hold top spot throughout the Qualifying session, but it was the Whistler Motorsport driver who eventually won pole with a time of 19.666 seconds for an average speed of 66.448km/h (41.289 mph). The surprise of the session was Adams Motorsport driver Lars Peter Wiktorsson who claimed third place, ahead of Simon van Steen who was making his final appearance for Team MRT after filling in for Ferdi Arnold.

Despite Austin Parkin claiming second spot, it was another dreadful day for Red Bull Racing, with Anthony Crow qualifying a lowly 35th, whilst team-mate Berthold Mentzel qualified outside the top 10 for the second straight week. The same cannot be said of WLD Racing, who saw all three of their drivers qualify for the race for the first time since Race 3, with Sander Bolck and Sjoerd Schott lining up behind last weeks race winner, Noel Jernsten.

KALK’s Jeppe Passer equaled his best qualifying performance of 11th, just behind Sovereign’s Max Arias, who qualified in the Top 10 for the first time this season. Other notable highlights included Dario Heinrich qualifying 5th – his highest of the season, and Jack O’Connell in 8th.

A notable absence on the timing charts at the end of the session was Francis Forestier. The Super Nova driver, sitting 13th in the Championship, failed to qualify for the race by 4 one-thousandths of a second. Lehmann Technik’s Oliver McGuyver and Sovereign’s Paul Collier both failed to qualify for the fourth straight week, putting them both under pressure by their respective teams.

Race

Emerald’s Charles Legrand held on for the final two laps of the race after Frans van Schooten ran out of fuel to claim the victory and become the seventh driver to win a race in the season. It was Emerald’s first win and podium, with both Blake Gilmartin and Earnest Carter finishing 4th once each, prior to this race.

Race Report

From the onset, Benoît Douay set a commanding pace, leading from the green flag for the first 25 laps. His dominance was challenged when Austin Parkin, who had been trailing closely in second place since the start of the race, managed to overtake him.

The race took a dramatic turn on Lap 45 when Whistler Motorsport’s Boris Visser, visibly frustrated from his compromised race the previous weekend due to multiple pit stop errors, aggressively targeted Fred Gleeson of Cubley Racing. At the time, Visser, sitting in 13th place, exhibited growing impatience with Gleeson’s defensive maneuvers. His frustration culminated in a collision that sent Gleeson into the barrier at Turn 3, ending his race prematurely for the second consecutive week and bringing out the yellow flag.

Following the restart, the lead changed hands multiple times. Parkin lost his leading position on Lap 75 to Simon van Steen, who was making his final appearance before Ferdi Arnold’s return. However, Douay reclaimed the lead shortly after, on Lap 79. The race was further complicated by a major accident on Lap 150, involving 19 cars in a catastrophic event known as “The Big One.” Initiated by Autocrust’s Jack O’Connell after he tried to lap Knud Nielsen, the accident led to a significant number of retirements and severely damaged vehicles. Blake Gilmartin, among others, voiced his frustration over the incident, lamenting the impact of uncontrollable factors on his race outcomes for two consecutive events.

After the debris was cleared, the race resumed with Benoît Douay once again losing the lead following an extended green flag period, this time to Hunter Davies of Ember Engineering on lap 235 – his first led laps this season – who then yielded to Frans van Schooten after just three laps. Van Schooten, having managed to evade the major Lap 150 accident, was a consistent presence in the Top 10 throughout the race.

Mechanical issues also played a critical role in the race’s outcome. Nick Ferreira suffered a puncture on Lap 199, drastically affecting his position, while Berthold Mentzel struggled with ignition box issues in the final 40 laps. Earnest Carter and Lars Peter Wiktorsson faced penalties for pit lane violations, with Carter for commit line violation on pit entry whilst running 8th, and Wiktorsson for using more than two air wrenches whilst riding 11th, ruing his fantastic race up to that point.

The closing stages of the race was characterized by a strategic gamble by race leader Frans van Schooten and his team, Super Nova. Opting not to pit for fuel in the final laps, van Schooten aimed to secure the win by stretching his fuel to the end. This decision proved costly, as he ran out of fuel with just two laps remaining, allowing Charles Legrand to overtake him and secure the victory. Van Schooten’s hope of at least securing second place vanished as he was overtaken by multiple drivers in the final lap, finishing 6th.

Championship Standings After the Race