GILLY BACK TO HER BEST IN RACE 3
- Trent Streams
- Dec 5, 2015
- 3 min read
Watch out drivers: Gilly is offically back to her best, taking the chequered flag in Race 3 of the Whishy Racing Series, and taking an early lead of the championship.
The Whishy Racing Series championship came to Worthsley today, and Race 3 consisted of 36 laps around the 2.78km Sandhill Concert, a sprint race with one general pit stop that would last less than half an hour.
Fluffy qualified on Pole Position, with Sammy by his side on the grid in second, and the pair got off to an even start, Fluffy maintaining the lead on the inside into Turn 1. The field was fairly well behaved during the opening 10 laps, the only note-worthy encounter taking place on lap 8, when Finnie and Fluro collided fighting for 8th spot. Both cars ended up in the paddock, and rejoined the field in the back third of the train.
Meanwhile, Sketcher charged into the top 3 after starting 6th, and Knighto dropped back a few places after qualifying an all-time personal best 3rd. The most influencial moment of the race occured on lap 16, when leaders Fluffy and Sammy tangled themselves. Fluffy tagged the outside wall of turn 4 and ricocheted slightly back onto the track, minorly collecting Sammy, who was looking to make the most of Fluffy's mistake and take the lead. She took the lead, but endured damage to the front left side of her car and was forced to pit that lap. Roughly 10 extra seconds were added to her pit stop as a result of the contact. Fluffy also required further maintenance that saw him drop back in the pack too. Sketcher's hard racing early on paid off; he was now in the lead!
Between laps 15 and 20, everyone hit the pits for their mandatory pit stop. No dramas to speak of, but Dorsy and Wisheroony lost precious seconds in the lane waiting to exit their pit boxes. Better than a drive-through penalty, that's for sure!
The laps ticked down and Sketcher remained in the lead. By lap 30, however, he had to contend with some serious compeition - and I mean, best-in-the-game competition. Gilly bore down on the back of Sketcher, hungry for another win to add to her large, ever-increasing tally. Meanwhile, Tigar, a few seconds behind, was charging through the back and moved into 3rd position - a good result if he could remain on the track for the final few laps.
On the 32nd lap, Gilly's experience showed, her persistance and patience wearing Sketcher down. Gilly got down the inside of Sketcher at the slow turn 8. Tigar soon caught up to Sketcher, but although he got close - half a second in fact - he couldn't quite get past.
The 35th lap was a heartbreaking one for Twister, losing control of her car and spearing off the track into the turn 6 wall. Race Control decided to avoid calling the Safety Car onto the track that late in the race, so Twister sat off to the left of the track on the grass for a lap whilst the others finished the race.
It was also a bad day for Maxie, who finished 2 laps down after ongoing mechanical problems spoiled his race.
The final results: 1. Gilly, 2. Sketcher, 3. Tigar. For the full results, click here.
Bumper struggled today, coming home in 17th, and therefore Gilly now leads the championship by 13 points over Wishy, and Bumper is one point behind. To view the championship points table, click here.
Comments