2015 International Club Auto Race

The 2015 Ruysdael Auto Race was a SUPRAC Cup race held on September 28, 2015 in Douglastown, Albaland. It was the eighth race of the inaugural SUPRAC Cup season, second road course of the season, and was the first ever race to be run in Albaland. It also marked the second time a race went to overtime, and the first time a race was delayed by a day due to inclement weather.

Background

Following Ross McRae’s two-race suspension by Lehmann Technik for his arrest for drunk and disorderly conduct in Omfattandestad two weeks ago, Crew Chief Tobias Wagner announced rookie 17-year old Thijs van Dalsen will make his professional debut in the SUPRAC Cup this weekend. The Zuidgeldan, racing in the number 51, was announced at a press conference prior to the race weekend in Douglastown expressing his excitement for the upcoming fortnight, as well as thanking Lehmann Technik and Tobias Wagner for the opportunity to showcase his talents.

In other notable news in the lead up to the race weekend, Adams Motorsport driver Nick Ferreira took to social media to criticize Paul Lindqvist. With the two drivers languishing near the bottom of the Drivers Championship, Ferreira responded to a fans question about which driver he thought was overrated. In the now deleted tweet, Ferreira suggested Lindqvist should have scored many more points than he had done at that point of the season.

In terms of the championship races, Whistler Motorsport’s Benoît Douay still led the way in the Drivers with 164 points, with the now suspended Ross McRae in second place on 154. Whistler Motorsport’s Boris Visser was third on 148 points and Super Nova’s Frans van Schooten two points behind him, having slipped from second after last week. A 22-point gap then separates Bill Redhead in 5th.

Whistler Motorsport continued to hold top spot in the Team Championship with a 150-point lead over second placed Super Nova. Emerald jumped above Cubley Racing last week following Charles Legrands win, whilst Red Bull Racing’s poor season sees them still sitting 6th behind Lehmann Technik on just 148 points.

Qualifying

Having criticized the last road course in Omfattandestad, Cubley Racing’s Gabriel Wöstmann proved his doubters – who questioned his commitment to road courses – wrong by putting his car on Pole for the first time this season. With a time of 1:00.667, he edged out Boris Visser and surprisingly the two Ember Engineering drivers of Henrik Krook and Hunter Davies who locked out the second row.

Despite a fairly uneventful qualifying, one moment certainly raised eyebrows when Boris Visser and Charles Legrand banged wheels, sending both cars into the gravel. Replays showed Legrand on the racing line when Visser divebombed down the inside, prompting both cars to return to the pits for repairs. After the session, Legrand spoke to reporters, suggesting Visser maneuver was overly aggressive, and hurt his chances of qualifying on pole.

Despite Visser ultimately lining up on the front row, it was a disappointing day for Whistler Motorsport in general, with championship leader Benoît Douay struggling with tyre issues throughout the session seeing him qualify 33rd, the lowest he’s qualified to date, whilst team-mate Bill Redhead was just a few positions higher up in 30th. Red Bull Racing’s poor season continued with Austin Parkin the best of the drivers in a lowly 17th, ahead of Team MRT’s Ferdi Arnold who returned from his 3-race suspension. Red Bull team-mate Berthold Mentzel extended his streak of qualifying outside the top 10 to three, starting in 19th.

Super Nova’s Fabian Schroth had a good day, placing his 48 car on the third row alongside Blake Gilmartin. He praised his team after the session and said his car had the ability to win the race. Gilmartin was the highest placed Emerald driver, with Earnest Carter helping see Emerald have all 3 cars starting inside the top 20 for the first time since race 5.

At the opposite end, Noel Jernsten couldn’t qualify for the race, languishing in 48th – and last – on the timing screens at session end. It marked the second time this season the 25-year old has failed to qualify for a race, but thankfully his team-mate Paul Collier claimed the final spot on the grid, having failed to qualify for the last four races. Jernsten was joined by Oliver McGuyver in the Lehmann Technik on the sidelines with the Albaland native having failed to make the grid in each of the last five races, prompting the Lehmann Technik boss to suggest Thijs van Dalsen could replace him following McRae’s suspension.

Race

In what was considered by many to be a fantastic race, Dario Heinrich picked up his first win, having qualified in 36th, overtaking Bill Redhead with two laps to go following overtime after a major accident caused four cars to retire on Lap 85. Lars Peter Wiktorsson finished second, handing Adams Motorsport their first ever podium alongside Team MRT.

Race Report

The race was delayed by 24 hours following heavy rain on the Sunday, with SUPRAC officials declaring the race unsuitable for wet tyres 25 minutes before the race was scheduled to start at 2pm local time.

The race got underway in cloudy conditions on Monday with a frenetic start which saw Gabriel Wöstmann overtaken into the first corner of Lap 3 by Charles Legrand who himself was overtaken 1 lap later by Fabian Schroth. Whistler Motorsport’s Boris Visser then took the lead on Lap 5, before losing out to Henrik Krook 6 laps later. After Gabriel Wöstmann lost the lead he slowly fell down the order before retiring on Lap 11 with engine issues, becoming the first retirement of the race and the first driver to retire from pole position.

Ember Engineering’s Henrik Krook held the lead through the first lot of pit stops, which followed Ferdi Arnold being forced to pit for repairs from 9th place with handling issues on Lap 25. Knud Nielsen picked up a drive-through penalty two laps later after drove through more than three pit boxes, which saw him drop from 34th to 38th.

Krook was overtaken by Hunter Davies with the undercut on Lap 28, but saw his lead disappear 8 laps later when John Sleeth poked the nose of his KALK car down the inside of Turn 4 and take control of this race. Shortly thereafter, Blake Gilmartin reported electrical issues and was ordered by his team to retire.

The leader of the race changed hands twice more with Austin Parkin and Fred Gleeson swapping positions on lap 43, but could only hold the lead for two laps before team-mate Hubert Stumpel shot past to become the 10th leader. Five laps later, Francis Forestier became the talking point of the race when he reported handling issues whilst sitting 15th. He slowly fell down the order throughout the rest of the race to come home 28th.

The first caution flag of the race appeared on Lap 55, when Red Bull Racing’s Austin Parkin attempted an aggressive move down the inside of Fabian Schroth in 4th place. After banging wheels, Parkin’s car rebounded back across the track, collecting the barrier, and an unfortunate John Sleeth. Parkin’s car was a write-off, whilst Sleeth was forced to repair down multiple laps, eventually finishing the race as one of only two unclassified runners.

After the restart following the caution, Max Arias suffered a blown engine just a couple of laps later and was forced to retire from 16th, six laps before Bill Redhead moved into the lead after under-cutting Hubert Stumpel; it was the first time Redhead had a lead a race since the last road race in Omfattandestad.

Arcuri’s Knud Nielsen – having recovered from his earlier penalty to sit 33rd – became the fifth retirement of the race on Lap 77, when he reported his water temperatures to be upwards of 150 degrees Celsius.

With the race winding down and Whistler Motorsport’s Bill Redhead seemingly settling in for the win, a major wreck with three laps to go brought out the safety car, forcing overtime for the second time this season. Henrik Krook, who had fallen to 11th, suffered a cut tyre and collected Fabian Schroth, Lachlan Davis and Sten Freese in the process. All four drivers were forced to retire from the race, with the latter two on track for strong finishes.

After the safety car pulled into the pit lane for the overtime restart, Dario Heinrich, having climbed through the field from 36th to sit 2nd, overtook Bill Redhead to take the lead and hold on for the remaining two laps of the race to take the checkered flag. Redhead was so unprepared for the restart, that Lars Peter Wiktorsson nabbed second place for his best ever finish with all three podium drivers gaining at least 26 spots during the race.

Both Whistler Motorsport’s drivers Bill Redhead’s and Benoît Douay moved through the field and up into the Top 10 rather quickly, however, all eyes were on debutant Thijs van Dalsen (pictured) who made a late surge, having spent much of the afternoon in the back-half of the running order to come home 7th.

Championship Standings After the Race