Race Recap: 2019/2020 UF1 Series – Race 8 – Abu Dhabi GP | UF1 RC

Post Race Analysis
2020 has been a wacky year. I mean really – who would have thought there would be a 7-month gap between Round 7 and Round 8??? I surely didn’t, but was very happy to be back out and at the track for Round 8, the final round of the 2019/2020 UF1 Season!

This race took place at our old favorite Cal Raceway in Orange CA. The temperature was a little warm but not to bad with the breeze coming in and with traction was at a premium, it was going to be a really good day of racing. Spirits were high, faces were smiling as it was time to get back out and into the UF1 program!

This particular layout at Cal has been there awhile, so the track was well grooved for excellent traction – and it showed. We were seeing some amazingly fast lap times for a RWD F1 car, and those that took advantage of earlier practice days definitely came prepared.

In addition to the F1 and F2 classes, we were also doing an exhibition Formula E race. This was a warm up race of sorts, getting the drivers ready for next season’s Formula E support class. They will be running the Tamiya TC-01 Formula E Car in a Spec configuration; option parts, ESC/motor and wheels and tires would be spec’ed out to keep the class equal. If you’re interested, you can see the ruleset here: Formula E rules.

With that said, let’s get to the racing!

Formula 1
Qualifying
During the short 3-minute qualifier, drivers were dropping quick laps right from the start, comfortably hitting low times on a consistent basis. It was apparent that Brian Ruvalcaba and Carlos Duarte brought their A-game, both into the low 11-second lap times. In fact, Brian’s single fast lap was an 11.146 – an absolute blistering lap! Others were close, but no one was quite as consistent as the Team Renault driver. He would end up taking the top spot in qualifying with a 5-lap average of 11.389. Duarte was close behind with an 11.443, narrowly beating out Brian’s teammate Hector Martinez who ended qualifying with a 11.629 5-lap average.

I’d like to give a quick shout out to P4 qualifier Mark Goldwater. He put in some very consistent laps to out-qualify some of his faster rivals. A great effort from the Team Alfa driver showing that old guys do rule!

Mains
As I mentioned earlier, the track layout has been in place for awhile, giving all the drivers an additional level of grip not normally seen in the Series. That being said, most of the drivers were shocked to hear lap times being hit that were normally reserved for Sportsman level Touring Cars.

Team Renault driver Brian Ruvalcaba made the most of his front row start (and excellent tire choice/beautifully handing car) to drop 3 76-lap runs to claim 300 points for the day. In addition to his wickedly-fast pace, he also clocked the fastest lap with an unbelievable 11.018! That’s half a second faster that the next quickest lap posted by his closest rival. Ruvalcaba has been progressively getting faster each race (especially outdoors) and I have to think his competitors are a little worried about his performance next season. Ruvalcaba would finish the Series out in 4th place, having a season-leading 8 wins! I think he’s looking forward to next season…

P2 for the day was Carlos Duarte, another driver that was on a mission from the start. Carlos posted a P3, P2 and P2, however his final race could have ended differently had there been a few more minutes. Late in race 3, Carlos started a charge to the front, picking up a couple tenths here and there on race leader Ruvalcaba. What started out as an 8 second gap slowly declined to 1.9 seconds by the end of the race – there just wasn’t enough time to catch Brian. Duarte did post a 76-lap run; the only other driver to do so. He really needed a good showing in this final race as it boosted his points enough for him to solidify 3rd overall in the Championship – only two points behind his teammate! Carlos has had multiple podium finishes but is still chasing that elusive top podium spot – if today’s performance is any indication of what he’s got in the tank, I expect to see him post multiple P1 placings next season!

Even after qualifying in P9, Mike Rydwell had a great day with his P3 finish. Mike has been showing off the consistency of his new Exotek F1ULTRA ride, posting 3 P1 finishes throughout the season. He’s also got a TQ on his way to an overall Championship finish of 14th spot. Mike missed quite a few races (it appears he’s got a life outside of RC… pshhh) but he’s definitely one to look out for when he does show up. Look for him to put that series-popular F1 ride in the Top 3 many more times next season.

Finishing only 1 point behind in P4 was Hector Martinez. Hector had a great day as well, posting a P4, P4 and P5. He also had one of the top 5 fastest laps with an 11.250 – a great lap from the Team Renault driver. Hector had a bit of a rough time in the season openers (he’s a stellar carpet driver transitioning over to asphalt) but has since brought the boom in the latter half with multiple podium finishes. He’s also missed quite a few races (something like 9) and subsequently had to settle for 15th overall in the Championship. Rumor has it that, though, that he and teammate Ruvalcaba are not only looking for higher driver Championship finishes next year, they’re also looking to shake up the Constructor’s as well! Team Renault has certainly got the talent to take that top spot!

And finishing only 1 point behind Hector was points leader and overall Championship winner Michael Monaghan. Going into this race, Monaghan had padded his points lead enough that he only had to show up and put his car on the track to win. That meant a nice, relaxing day, ending with a P6, P3 and P4. His smooth driving style and incredible consistency netted him quite a few podium places this season – 4 P1, 5 P2 and 6 P3 to be exact. He also acquired a TQ and 2 Fast Lap points, helping him to win the Series by a whopping 38 points. A well deserved win by an amazing driver! Congrats Mike, we’re excited to see if you can defend your title next season!

UF1 founder Charles Lightfoot had a great day as well, improving on his P8 qualifying to place P6 in the daily overall. The Team 11 driver clocked in with a P5, P6 and P6 for a total of 286 points for the day. His fast lap of an 11.279 is also quick – anything under 11.3 showed fantastic pace for the day. With the day’s finish, Lightfoot would secure 10th overall in the Championship, a good showing considering he missed 2 full races. He should be proud, though, as he also had a 1st place and multiple other podium finishes throughout the season! That’s saying something seeing the level of competition that is swimming around the UF1 pool right now!

Collecting P7 for the day was independent Ken Gerberding. Ken ended the day with a P7, P9 and P7, finishing each race mere seconds behind the car in front of him. His performance was good enough to help him secure P11 for the overall Championship – missing the back-to-back Vegas races (like many did) hurt his chances at a Top 10 finish. Ken did post a couple podium finishes including a 1st in Race 3, showing he’s got the chops to hang with the leaders. We’re looking forward to next season when he teams up with Chad Rott on Team Jaquar – that should help both drivers as they converse on tire choices and setups. Also looking forward to seeing them mix it up in the Constructor’s as well.

Potential Championship challenger Rajan Monteiro had a bit of an off day, only able to secure a P8. It was going to be a very hard pull for Raj to overtake Monaghan due to his points lead (like, 1-in-a-million), so his biggest concern was the fire under his teammate Duarte. Carlos’ stellar day was almost good enough to oust Monteiro out of his P2 for the Championship – Raj took it by only 2 points! He did drastically improve over his P11 qualifying though, posting a P8, P8 and P11 for the day. Raj had a good season overall, landing a win, multiple 2nds and 3rds, a Fast Lap point and a TQ. That’s the kind of consistency that keeps you near the top. Congrats on your well-earned 2nd place Series finish!

Independent driver Alex M finished 9th overall, looking at a P10, P12 and P8. He’s definitely got the speed (as seen with his 11.359 fast lap time), but lady luck just wasn’t quite with him. Alex also started the season off a bit slow, trying to make the transistion from carpet to asphalt. The second half of his season was better but missing the two Vegas races, well, that’s a killer if you’re looking to make the Top 10 – Alex will have to settle for 13th overall in the Championship. He has been racing outdoors alot more, so we’re looking forward to his forward momentum as we enter into the next season!

Behind Alex as another independent, Chad Rott. Rott had high hopes of a Top 3 Championship finish going into this race but some seriously bad luck dropped him down the scoreboard in the daily and, unfortunately, the overall Championship. Rott finished the day with a P9, P7 and P15, breaking out in Round 3 of the final race of the Series. He would finish the day with 272 points. Rott’s season, though, was very respectible. It had its ups and downs but he was able to post a P1 as well as multiple P2s and P3s and 2 Fast Lap points. His not-so-great day dropped him to 4th overall in the Championship, but Ruvalcaba’s good day had them tie in the overall (yes, after 24 races, these guys were TIED in points at 2025!). We went with the most ‘wins’ to decide the tie-breaker – Ruvalcaba had 8, Rott had 1. This would drop Rott one more place to 5th overall in the Championship. That’s certainly not something to be upset about – he’s got the speed, he’s got the attitude, now he needs the luck. I think sitting with Gerberding next season (and their groovy Team Jaquar uniforms) is going to change that up a bit. Routing for you buddy!

Team Alfa driver Craig “Cuda” Hammon slotted into P11, posting a daily P13, P10 and P9. His day got progressively better but the competition is just downright tough right now. Craig missed the dreaded ‘double Vegas weekend’ as well which, as I’ve mentioned numerous times, really hurt the chances of a Top 10 finish. Craig had a respectable season, grabbing a couple podium spots on his way to a 12th overall in the Championship. This guy is certainly a staple in the UF1 and love having him there – time to get back on that horse, bud, and show these young guns how us old guys do it!

Behind Cuda was his teammate Mark Goldwater. As I mentioned in the qualifying section, Goldwater put in an amazing run to put his Alfa P4 on the starting grid. That might have been the extent of his luck, though, as he finished the day with a P11, P11 and P14 (breaking out in the final race). His fast lap of an 11.431 is right up there with the best, so it’s apparent he’s got the speed to do the deed. We’ve even seen him on the podium twice this season with a 2nd place and 3rd place finish! Mark would wrap up the Championship with a very respectable 7th place overall – an excellent job for sure! Keep it going into next year sir!

AMG Motorsport teammate Bruce Hickman had a day I think he’d like to forget, wrapping it up with a P12, P14 and P10. Bruce was on fire earlier in the season, so much so to have posted numerous podium finishes including 3 first place runs. He did, however, miss Race 7 (using those as his throwout) so any subsequent bad runs would have to be counted. Hickman would finish the season off in P6 which, in my opinion, is a great job considering the younger talent in the Series. Seeing his excellent results, I’m guessing we’ll be seeing him improve on his performance with some smackdowns next year. Time to bring it, Bruce!

Posting a P14, P13 and P12 for the day was eventual P14 finisher Doug Rebal. Doug does his support role in the Series better than anyone; there to have a good time, support his teammate and score valuable point for Team 11. He’s also one of the few that knows to finish in the Top 10, you need to show up to all the races. That being said, Rebal takes home the 9th place spot in the Championship right above his teammate Charles Lightfoot. Actually, he was just a few points out of 8th – definitely the goal for next season! Good job sir, looking forward to seeing your A-game next season!!!!

Coming in 15th for the day was Phillip Enriquez. Phillip would wrap up his day with a P15, P15 and P13, rather unusual for the independent driver. Phillip had started to come on strong in the middle part of the season, posting a win, a couple 2nds and 3rds as well as a TQ. We’re not sure what happened (we know he has been working with a prototype car), but we expect him to gather that thing in during the off season and come back strong! Phillip missed Race 3 which, unfortunately, made all his other points count (including bad races), but he did manage to keep it together enough to finish the season with a 8th place overall. Great job dood! Ready to see you come back out in full force to dice it up with the top dogs!

Here are the final results for the 2019/2020 UF1 season!

Fast Lap Award
One of the coolest things about the UF1 is, of course, qualifying. The OTHER awesome thing is the Fast Lap award – duh. This award pushes the drivers to extract every ounce of performance from both their rides AND themselves, and it amazes me every race how much potential these RWD Formula 1 cars actually have. That being said, it was once again Team Renault driver Brian Ruvalcaba putting down an absolutely blistering 11.018 lap time on the Cal Raceway circuit. And on top of that, he did it on his FINAL lap of the FINAL race of the season. If that isn’t a challenge for next season I don’t know what is!

But he wasn’t the only one that had a point to prove – Carlos Duarte stamped a 11.075 lap time … on lap 74 of 76 in the final race as well. The fact that these two guys were even toying with a 10-second lap time is insane!

Finally, Michael Monaghan set the 3rd fastest lap – a 11.122 which, of course, is nothing to shake a stick at. Since Monaghan had already wrapped up the Championship, I’m sure he wasn’t even in full race mode. Would have liked to what he would have thrown down if he had!

Formula 2
Qualifying
With only one driver showing up for the F2 class, it was an easy day for scoring, pictures and, of course, crowning an F2 Champion! Joe Hawkins III would have a great day, qualifying in P1, having the fastest lap of the day, scoring a maximum 300 points and racking up enough points to take the overall F2 Championship!

However, since he was the only car, we dropped him in with the F1 cars for the main events. This gave Joe a good look at what he’ll be experiencing next year now that he’s been bumped up to F1.

Mains
As mentioned previously, being the only F2 car in attendance, Joe would have to run with the big dogs in F1. He did have to continue to run within the F2 rules, meaning a 25.5T motor and Spec tires. But that didn’t seem to bother Joe – simply knowing that he was going to be the F2 Champion put a smile on this guys face from ear to ear! Joe’s 300 points sent him cruising past the other competitiors in the F2 class, taking the overall Championship win by 27 points. You have to be in it to win it, and Joe did just that. He even posted a fast lap of 13.112 which is pretty stellar considering the Spec limits of his car. Joe certainly earned his way to the F1 class – congrats buddy!

Here are the final results for the 2019/2020 UF1 season!

Constructor’s Championship
As the Constructor’s Championship is based on the combined individual points of both team drivers, it is crucial that both teammates show up. Going into the final race, there was rumor that Silver Arrows driver Carlos Duarte may not be able to make it. Had that been the case, that could have allowed AMG Motorsport to inch up closer to them for a final race attack. That all went away when Carlos did show up, re-arranging his day so he could be there for the team. Good move as it did solidify their top spot in the Constructor’s Championship.

I’m not sure if all the drivers know (we’ll be covering it again in next Season’s rules video), but there is a clause in the rules that if you can not make a race, a substitute driver may be appointed for that race. The substitute driver earns points for themselves but also earns points for the team as long as he is running a team body.

I’m not 100% sure, but I think that rule may have not been noticed by AMG Motorsport at the time they lost the Championship lead. Certainly an unfortunate event. That would have probably made the points race a little bit tighter at the end.

Either way, we’re going to have a new Team system to help prevent multiple matching car designs on track. More on that coming soon.

A big congratulations to The Silver Arrows drivers Carlos Duarte and Rajan Monteiro for keeping it together the entire season and taking the 2019/2020 Constructor’s Championship! Well done boys!

Formula E
Qualifying
To showcase the upcoming Formula E class, we had an exhibition run at the final race. The rules were similar, however the race length was shortened to 10 minutes instead of the F1/F2 15-minute races. There were only 4 cars, but we’re expecting at least a full class of them come next season.

Here’s how they qualified:

Mains
As noted earlier, the race length was shortened to 10 minutes with the drivers only needing to make 1 pit stop in the first 5 minutes of the race. They used the same 3-race format as the F1/F2 classes, so for some that were used to it, it came naturally. Our two newest drivers – Steve Strohm and Glen Kratz – they had a chance to experience the UF1 format for the first time.

Hector Martinez joined the Formula E class and got a jump on next season by posting a triple P1 finish for the day, earning himself 300 points. Hector’s car was on fire and the only driver to post a 49-lap run. I think he was digging the class and I expect him, at this point, to be the favorite going into the inaugural season.

Taking P2 for the day was Phillip Enriquez with his Ferrari inspired Formula E. His car was a little on the loose side as he worked with it to settle it down, but managed to figure it out and put in some great laps with 3 2nd place finishes. Phillip is also quite seasoned in the UF1 race format and took advantage of that to bring home the silver. I expect to see him podium quite a bit next season as well.

Finishing in 3rd was Steven Strohm, a newcomer to the Series. After getting his car sorted, Steven did a great job of powering around the track for a three 3rd place finishes. He did say the pit thing was different but thought it was a cool feature to the race – and loved the triple 10-minute races! That’s what it’s all about Steven – lots and lots of track time!

Coming in 4th for the day with 3 4th place finishes was Glen Kratz. Glen is new to the Series as well and loved the format, however an altercation with the sweeper wall in practice sent his car back to the garage in pieces. He was able to fix it using some JB Weld, but unfortunately it didn’t hold very well and had him back in the pits multiple times. I think Glens got his eyes on some spare parts before next Season – it was great having you out sir. Thanks for showing up – let’s get that car fixed, tuned and ready for a next season!

Final Thoughts
All in all, it was a great season, even with COVID postponing the final race. We had some surprising moments in both the win and loss columns, some amazing overtakes, lap times and Championship results. But most of all, we had some incredible times driving toy cars at our favorite venues, and it’s all in thanks to you guys, the drivers. You’ve made this fun for me to do and as much as I hate NOT driving (even though some of you scare me with your crazy F1 skills), I really enjoy doing my best to make this Series fun and as realistic as possible. In the grand scheme of things it is a small Series, but a passionate one and the fact that you guys come out each race to deal with the hot temps, computer issues and an occassional on-track incident, it really means alot to me for your support. Truely. I can’t thank you enough for that support.

I will be working on next Season’s rule updates as well as the schedule but, as we all know, COVID sucks. I can’t guarantee a January start (which is what I’m looking at) but I can guarantee the same fun, the same feeling and the same hard racing we’ve come to love about the UF1. Oh ya, and the friendships. That makes it, by far, one of my favorite places to be.

Thank you all and see you next Season!

Thanks to the following sponsors for this year’s UF1 Series:
ActivRC
Fenix Racing Shop
PROTOform
Tamiya
Team Associated
VBC Racing

Photo Gallery: Gallery 68 – Round 8 – UF1 2019/2020 Series