2015 Novan Auto Race

The 2015 Novan Auto Race was a SUPRAC Cup race held on October 18, 2015 in Alnwick, Novainsula. It was the eleventh race of the inaugural SUPRAC Cup season and third road course race of the season.

Week Leading Up

• Max Arias was injured in the opening lap of the previous race and was ruled out of this race with a concussion. He was replaced by Patrik Hagelin, a highly touted rookie known for his road course prowess.

Qualifying

• Boris Visser clinched Pole with a time of 1:42.377, a smidge faster than the bookies favorite Earnest Carter who will start alongside on the front row for Emerald. It is Visser’s second Pole of the season, and Whistler Motorsports fourth.
• Emerald didn’t have the greatest of days, with Blake Gilmartin – another bookies favourite – starting 12th.
• Team MRT’s Dario Heinrich won the last road course three weeks ago. He will start in 14th. The same can’t be said for his team-mate Elliot Lindvall, who finished last in qualifying and failed to make the race; his first DNQ of the season.
• Jack O’Connell and Jeremy Whinnett also failed to qualify for the race for the first time this season.
• After the disappointment of failing to qualify last week, Hunter Davies will start 6th alongside Bill Redhead.
• Sander Bolck for WLD Racing had his best qualifying session of the season, smashing his previous best by 10 places to start 9th.
• Red Bull Racing’s Austin Parkin, last weeks race winner, qualified 3rd, just over two-tenths slower than the fastest time.
• Championship leader Benoît Douay will start 13th, but the Le Groutian is not known for his qualifying prowess on road courses.
• Rookie Patrik Hagelin had an uneventful day, and will start in the mid-pack in the 23rd position.

Pre-Race

• All teams and drivers passed inspection.
• Weather was cloudy and cool, with no threat of rain.

Race

Race Events

• Lap 0: Ulrik Wiklund (27th) missed a gear change as the lights went green, causing him to lose places and slip to 39th by the end of the first lap. However, all eyes were on Earnest Carter, who overtook Boris Visser through the first chicane and took the lead of the race. Blake Gilmartin (+3 to 9th) and Dario Heinrich (+2 to 12th) were the biggest movers.
• Lap 2: Adams Motorsport’s Lars Peter Wiktorsson pulls into the pitlane and retires with brake issues.
• Lap 4: Bill Redhead (Whistler) and Hunter Davies (Ember Engineering) both gain 3 places and move into 2nd and 3rd respectively, as Boris Visser (Whistler), and Austin Parkin (Red Bull) slip to 4th and 5th. Earnest Carter now has a two second gap over 2nd place. Ferdi Arnold (+4 to 15th) is the biggest mover over the last few laps.
• Lap 5: WLD Racing’s Ricard Hansson is having issues with his engine from lack of power. He is currently sitting 25th.
• Lap 9: Charles Legrand (+4 to 14th) is forced to retire with a seized engine. He comes to a stop off the racing line, but still in a dangerous spot near the armco barriers. That brings out the caution. Martijn van Poppel (Adams Motorsport) comes over the radio to say he is very happy with his cars performance, as he moves up to 17th.
• Lap 11: Green flag is waved.
• Lap 13: There’s a change at the front of the race, with Bill Redhead (Whistler) overtaking Earnest Carter (Emerald). The latter’s lap times have dropped off as it seems he’s struggling to put heat back in the tyres.
• Lap 23: Earnest Carter (Emerald) can’t hold off Hunter Davies (Ember) anymore, and slips back to third, with his team-mate Blake Gilmartin right on his tail. Meanwhile further back, Sander Bolck (WLD Racing) has found pace, whilst Jean-Pierre Jegou, Autocrust’s lone entrant in this race, has moved up 6 spots since the restart to 23rd.
• Lap 24: Bill Redhead (Whistler) pits from the lead, with the majority of the front runners doing likewise. Hunter Davies stays out and takes the lead of this race. Moments later, Paul Lindqvist (Lehmann Technik), sitting in 19th at the time, loses the rear end and clips the barriers by the beach on his pit lap. It costs him 29 seconds during his stop his pit crew work on the sheet metal. Meanwhile Jean-Pierre Jegou (Autocrust) nearly followed Lindqvist into the barriers but regained control just in time. Blake Gilmartin (4th) has a wheel nut cross threaded during his stop, seeing him slip to 6th on pit exit
• Lap 25: Bill Redhead (Whistler) retakes the lead of the race from Hunter Davies who pits. Gabriel Wöstmann (Cubley) jumps Dario Heinrich out of the pits and up to 4th, 4.4 seconds off 1st, after the Team MRT drivers slow stop.
• Lap 30: Sjoerd Schott (-4 to 25th) is on his team radio saying his cars suspension hasn’t been right all race whilst Oryx’s Sten Freese (38th) is the first car to be lapped on the day.
• Lap 32: Whistler’s Boris Visser (8th) is forced to make a pit stop to fix an engine issue. By the time he comes out, he has lost 10 places.
• Lap 34: Austin Parkin (Red Bull) says his car is nearly undriveable with over-steering issues. He has lost three spots from 9th to 12th in the last 5 laps alone.
• Lap 35: Two mechanical issues at the same time unrelated to each other. Hubert Stumpel has had suspension trouble for most of the race. The Cubley Racing driver was 17th at time of retirement, down 10 places from his starting spot. Meanwhile Stefan Nørgaard (35th) piles on the issues for team Oryx, as he is struggling with lack of power.

• Lap 41: Earnest Carter has now slipped to 5th, with his team-mate Blake Gilmartin once again behind him. Dario Heinrich (Team MRT) overtakes Gabriel Wöstmann (Cubley) for 3rd. Redhead now has 6 second lead over Hunter Davies.
• Lap 45: Team MRT lets Dario Heinrich down at the pit stop once again, allowing Gabriel Wöstmann to re-take third on pit exit. Karlheinz Schmitt (+2 to 13th) wheel nut jams on his right front, costing him two spots on exit. Jean-Pierre Jegou (Autocrust) knocks down a member of his pit crew during his stop, costing him about 15 seconds and seeing him slip from 23rd to 28th on pit exit.
• Lap 48: Blake Gilmartin (7th), locks up hard under braking and narrowly avoids the barriers by the main grandstand.
• Lap 51: Karlheinz Schmitt (KALK) is now complaining of clutch issues.
• Lap 54: Tommy Gardner (Team Mercury) spins on track at the hairpin turn on pit exit. He has a slight bump with armco but gets going without losing a spot in 35th.
• Lap 59: Sjoerd Schott, now in 26th, loses the back-end along the coastal section of the circuit. He clouts the armco barrier and is forced to pit. He re-enters the track in 33rd.
• Lap 65: Blake Gilmartin, perhaps frustrated at his performance, slides into the barriers and damages his splitter. He completes the final lap with it dragging along the road. Jeppe Passer (KALK) had an uneventful day until the final lap when he start to suffer with brake fade, forcing him to coast the final lap and allowing Patrik Hagelin (Sovereign) to pass for 28th.

Post-Race

• Bill Redhead (Whistler) wins his first race of the season, 6 seconds clear of Hunter Davies (Ember) and Gabriel Wöstmann (Cubley Racing). It is Redhead’s first win of the season, and the first podiums for Davies and Wöstmann.
• No driver has won more than 1 race so far this season.
• Ferdi Arnold (Team MRT) scored his first points of the season, finishing 9th.
• Sander Bolck (WLD Racing) has his best finish so far this season in 14th.
• Hubert Stumpel (Cubley Racing) has now DNF’d in the last three races.
• Rookie Patrik Hagelin (Sovereign) finished 28th.

Next Week

• Oliver McGuyver (Lehmann Technik) is being replaced by Thijs van Dalsen for two races due to lack of performance, having failed to qualify in 7 of his last 8 races.
• SUPRAC moves East but stays in Novainsula for the Tyrant Strait Auto Race, the fourth road course of the season for 105 laps.

Championship Standings After the Race