Race Recap: UF1 2018 Winter Series – Round 5 – GP de France | UF1 RC

Post Race Analysis
Thanks to Mother Nature teasing us with rain again, we found ourselves back at TQ RC Racing for Round 5 of the 2018 UF1 Winter Series. It was a last minute decision (again), one that probably saw a lot of drivers scrambling to get their carpet cars prepped for action (or converting their asphalts back to carpet).

Missing again from Round 5 were some UF1 Champion hopefuls; Mike Rydwell, Steven Jackson and Lee Passehl. There were also a few F2 drivers that couldn’t make it out; Dwayne Battie, Tom Aarke and Tim Ruwe. Hopefully we’ll see their shiny faces back at Round 6.

Formula 1
With the move back to the rug, this saw the typical carpet heroes putting in great runs to gather maximum points before heading outdoors. Hector Martinez was once again at the top of the heap, putting in a great qualifier and getting the additional 2 points for TQ. Alex M brought his A game in qualifying as well, narrowly missing out by only 2/10ths of a second. A few other drivers have been putting in work as well; Chad Rott and Raj Monteiro getting their names near the top of the list. It was only a matter of time – once these guys found the right tires and got their cars dialed in, I knew they’d be giving the carpet guys some troubles.

Once the main events rolled around, though, it was all Hector. This guy is super smooth and super clean, posting 10.1 lap times with ease. It’s this extremely clean driving style that netted him the top step of the podium each carpet race – 3 races, 3 TQs and 3 wins.

Craig “Cuda” Hammon and Charles Lightfoot were once again dueling for 2nd place, but a bad final race for Lightfoot let Cuda easily slot right in with 295 points. That’s good news for Craig as he’s only about 40 points behind Martinez in the overall. Some good results at the last two outdoor events could possibly put him on the top step of the podium.

Dropping into third in the final round was Chad Rott. This guy is about as passionate about F1 as anyone and, even though he’s had some struggles on carpet, he finally hit that magic tire setup and brought home some much needed points. Finishing the day with 290 points, his car was looking great all day, however he’s ready to head outdoors as well. Look to see him make up some points at the next two Cal Raceway events.

Alex M finished 4th – a great accomplishment considering the competition. His claim to fame wasn’t his 4th place finish; instead it was his fast lap – he hit a stellar 10.133 – 2/100ths faster than Martinez. That’s a golden lap right there for sure!

Behind Alex was Goldwater in 5th (great finish), Monteiro in 6th (finally figuring out his car as well), Gerberding, Duarte, Lightfoot and Reichert in 10th.

Also interesting is the cars manufacturers in the main; 9 of the 11 cars were all Xray! Even Martinez switched from his VBC to Xray (more on that in a sec). Seems to be the car to have at TQ!

Formula 2
Another good turnout in F2 – 14 drivers made it out including Boris Tsenov from Las Vegas, our current F2 leader. However, he wasn’t the fastest one on the track this day…

Brian Ruvalcaba once again showed he’s going to be a dominate force in F2 (and probably F1), putting in a stellar run to take Top Qualifier (and the +2 points). He also put in a fast lap of 10.618 – that would have put him easily Top 5 in F1 (and that’s with a 25.5T motor!).

In the mains, Brian took all 3 races in a commanding style, finishing 3 laps ahead of the second place driver. Now, we know the guy can drive on carpet, but what we didn’t know is that he’s actually using Hector Martinez’s VBC car – yeah, that uber-dialed machine that he was dominating with early on in the season. The VBC/Ruvalcaba combo seems to be quite lethal – be careful, Hector. You might just be giving Brian the tools to beat you!

Second place overall for the day was Matt Siu. I have to say, you don’t hear Matt’s name much during the event; guy is low key and flies under the radar. It’s not until you check the leaderboards (or see the final results) that you notice Matt killin’ it! He’s also second overall in the F2 class, only 23 points behind leader Tsenov. A couple good runs outdoors and he could be in contention for the overall win!

Third for the day was Mr. Tsenov. He’s another one of those guys that is super passionate about the series. He’s driven down from Vegas for every race and has been very consistent with his results. He placed well during Round 2 of the series (only outdoor race at Cal so far), so I have a feeling he’s going to be hard to beat. Time will tell…

In 4th was Phillip Enriquez, another fast carpet guy. Had he been here the whole season, my guess is a tight fight up front between him, Ruvalcaba and Tsenov. I’m going to guess that Phillip is doing quite a bit of testing for next season – it’ll be interesting to see how he does at the next 2 asphalt races. That’s a whole different animal.

Behind Enriquez was Allan Alvord in 5th. Another relatively new face (having been at only 2 races so far), he definitely shows some speed and could be a fighter for the Top 5 next season. Curious to see how he does outdoors as well.

Joe Hawkins III finished out the day in 6th followed by John Cary in 7th, Ledezma, Newburn and Jacob Dee in 10th! Jacob was also showing some serious pace during the day – up and comer in the F2 class!

Fast Lap Award
Let’s face it – the TQ carpet belongs to Hector Martinez. He’s not been beat so far this season indoors. However, Alex M showed that Hector is human and pulled down the fast lap of the day with a 10.133! This shows the competition is figuring it out on the rug! Future carpet races could be much closer!

Final Thoughts
I’ll have to admit I get the major urge to drive – I’m a racer and it’s hard to stand on the sidelines and watch. However, it really is cool to actually step back and watch my fellow racers learn, tune and progress with each race … AND enjoy the event. Looking forward to the last two races outdoors and see how it affects the final standings!

Thanks everyone for supporting the UF1. More fun times to come!

I would also like to thank the following companies – I really appreciate their support with this series.

– Fenix Racing Shop
– PROTOform
– Tamiya
– Team Associated
– VBC Racing
– Cal Raceway
– TQ RC Raceway

Final Results

Overall Standings – Formula 1 – UF1 2018 Winter Series
Overall Standings – Formula 2 – UF1 2018 Winter Series