Race Recap: UF1 2018 Winter Series – Round 6 – Japanese GP | UF1 RC

Post Race Analysis
Round 6 of the 2018 Winter Series had us outdoors at Cal Raceway in what turned out to be a magnificent day, both with the beautiful weather and the close racing! We saw 12 F1 drivers all shooting for the top points, however the final outcome for the day was quite different now that we hit the asphalt! In the F2 class, we had 17 drivers show up to race with 4 new faces that put in great runs to mess with the points a bit. I see some future F1 stars in this class for sure!

Formula 1
Now that we’re off the carpet, it was time for the local asphalt drivers to shine and hopefully put in runs good enough to make up some points.

Qualifying seemed a bit tricky as the track hadn’t hit its full potential yet. You could definitely see that the asphalt guys were on point and ringing in some great laps! Rajan Monteiro took the top spot (and the +2 TQ Points) with a fast 5-lap average of 14.235. Chad Rott came out of nowhere and posted a 14.250 5-lap average to narrowly eclipse Carlos Duarte for the P2 position (Duarte finished with a 14.266 5-lap average). Dropping into P4 was Mike Rydwell with a 14.378 followed by Brett Reichert and his 14.532 5-lap average to round out the Top 5. All of these guys were looking fast – we’re going to see some great racing today!

A1 saw Rocket Raj set a blistering 61-lap pace to take the win by about 7 seconds over Duarte, with him and Rydwell both turning 61 laps as well. Hammon and Lightfoot would have their own battle for most of the race, finishing with 60 laps for 4th and 5th respectively. Rott, Martinez, Reichert and Goldwater would all finish with 58 laps. Unfortunately Passehl and Rebal were struggling a bit, perhaps not quite finding that perfect balance after having to change over to an asphalt setup.

A2, and it was Rocket Raj again taking the top spot with 61 laps. This race wasn’t quite as easy as the first as Lightfoot found some speed and finished a tick over a second behind him. Lightfoot was able to match Raj’s fastest lap and average laps, he just didn’t have enough time and would have to settle for P2. Hammon, Rydwell and Duarte were all right there as well, finishing off the round with 61 laps. The top 6 cars were laying it down, all close to having identical fast and average laps – it shows that the asphalt is their home surface!

Come A3, however, things got quite a bit more interesting. Raj was able to put in another 61-lap run, however that was only good for 5th place! Duarte, Hammon and Lightfoot all logged 62 lap runs with Rydwell posting a stellar 63-lap blazer! Mike not only had a near-perfect run, his early pit strategy (on lap 24) allowed him to undercut his way into the lead – all he had to do from there is keep it rubber side down and stay out of trouble.

That final round for Rydwell would actually put him in a tie for 1st for the overall, however Raj’s +2 points for TQ would be the deciding factor. Duarte would drop into P3 overall followed by Lightfoot and Rott for the Top 5. Reichert would have to settle for 6th, Passehl 7th, Martinez in 8th, Gerberding in 9th and Rebal finishing out the Top 10. Unfortunately Hammon would drop to 11th and Goldwater to 12th – the reason? Let’s get to that.

While the score sheets show one thing, the overall results don’t. Remember guys, tire changes, battery changes and even parts replacements can change the weight of your cars. It is crucial that you tech your ride BEFORE your race! Both Hammon and Goldwater would finish in the Top 3 of their rounds but, due to being underweight, would lose all those points for that round. I hate having to do that but in a fairness to everyone else, everyone’s cars must make weight. In my opinion, having a car at 1051g (when the limit is 1050g) seems a bit to close for comfort. Please, guys, keep track of that in the future.

Formula 2
Round 6 posted one of the biggest groups of F2 drivers so far – 17 cars strong! The top guys in contention for the overall were in attendance – Ledezma, Tsenov, Hawkins and Groenhof – with a couple names absent; Voss and Siu. However, five new racers made their way to the asphalt; Michael Monaghan, Craig Kaplan, Victor Garcia, Ced, and Rich Reybok. While Garcia isn’t a stranger to the UF1, the other four are and not only did well in their first race, two of them – Monaghan and Kaplan – took the home Top and Second Place honors!

Michael Monaghan, a past TCS racer, came out to run the UF1 for the first time and walked away with a convincing TQ position (and +2 points). His 5-lap average of 14.594 was enough to beat out Ruvalcaba’s 14.806. Seeing as he’s already shown his skill on carpet, this P2 position for Ruvalcaba solidifies his position as someone that could fight for the overall win next series (he missed the first 3 races this season). Qualifying 3rd by less than a thousandth of a second was Garcia, posting a 14.891 to Christensen’s P4 time of 14.898. Carlos Ledezma would round out the Top 5 with a 15.043 5-lap average.

Monaghan would take A1, easily setting the fastest lap, fastest average lap and fastest 5-lap average. His smooth driving style kept him inches off each corner and he never seemed to push the car. His 42-lap run put him 1-lap ahead of P2 driver Ruvalcaba and two laps ahead of Garcia, Hickman and Kaplan, all with 40-lap runs. Ledezma, who’s currently 2nd in the overall points, finished P6 with Christensen in 7th, Lawson in 8th, Reybok in 9th and Cary in 10th.

A2 would be a repeat of A1 with Monaghan finishing P1 with a 42-lap run. Bruce Hickman, a past TCS champion, would put in a great 41-lap run to finish P2, 10 seconds ahead of P3 driver John Christensen. Ledezma would grab 4th place over Kaplan, both with 40-lap runs, followed by Julian Campbell, Ced, Sam Lawson and Boris Tsenov, all with 39-lap runs. Rich Reybok would finish 10th, barely missing that 39-lap run with a 10:00.277 time. From experience, I know it’s worse to miss that extra lap by less than a second than where you actually finished! Ruvalcaba had some sort of incident, dropping him down the finishing order with only a 36-lap run. The field of J’s (Jacob, John Cary, Johnny Groenhof, Jerermy and Joe Hawkins III) would round out the rest of the group.

In A3, that Monaghan guy would start up front and walk away from the field – again. Another solid 42-lap run puts him in P1 – 300 points, +2 for TQ – 302 points for the day! Brian recovered from his A2 issue to ring in another 41-lap P2 run. Garcia and Kaplan diced it out near the end to finish 3rd and 4th respectively, both missing a 41-lap run by under 2 seconds. Tsenov also got his ride figured out, posting a 40-lap run and barely hanging on to a hard-charging Lawson by 2/10ths of a second. Ledezma would come in 7th, Ced in 8th, Julian Campbell in 9th and Reybok in 10th. Cary, Hawkins, Groenhof and Jerermy would finish in 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th. Christensen, Hickman and Jacob Dee would all have car troubles and be out by lap 30.

Fast Lap Award
It’s always interesting to see who’s going to pull the fastest lap of the race. On carpet, there are the usual criminals that are just plain fast. On asphalt, however, there are so many more variables that could alter the results. Even though today was all about Monteiro, his teammate Carlos Duarte would send him notice that he’s not the only fast one on the team. Carlos ran corner to corner in perfect succession to post a 13.517 lap time – the fastest lap of the day!

Final Thoughts
Any way you look at it, the final race is shaping up to be a barnstormer. The guys who made their mark early in the season on carpet have juuuuuuuuust enough points to make the final race interesting. Are the Top 3 set for the F1 and F2 classes? Sure looks like it might be, but you never know with the UF1. A race-ending crash, an underweight DQ or just a bad day could change everything! I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty excited about the final race!

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