Austria… Amazing

With the worry of the desync bug destroying races again, we decided to carry on with the Austrian GP, hoping that we wouldn’t get a repeat of the Singapore GP… was it the right choice?

Absolutely it was! We had some incredible and unpredictable racing across the whole of LSI, with KA6, BNJMN, Jamo and FourscoreBike51 taking wins this weekend.

After yet another amazing qualifying session, Cisko took their second pole position by just 0.002 seconds, which set up the race to be a classic! Cisko had a dream start that put them into clean air for the first few laps of the race, while ChroneZ’s bad start meant that IgorPro found himself sandwiched by the Haas of ChroneZ and the Red Bull of Le’Mon. Luckily, they got through cleanly. However, they may have survived turn 1, but turn 3 saw IgorPro face the wrong way on the circuit, as a collision between MissingYew and Sixroi started a domino effect, spinning out the Aston Martin who was fighting for 4th. Further on in the same lap, Sixroi and BNJMN’s battle came to an abrupt end as they rode over the kerb, causing them to unbalance the car and make their way to the gravel trap.

Cisko lead the way onto lap 2, and MisterALTF4 tried to make their alternate strategy work with the medium tyres as they battled hard with the McLaren of Sword4000, who was showing some great skill on track. MissingYew and Almond found themselves in the pit lane after the early collisions caused them to have wing damage, and now they could do nothing but pray for a Safety Car.

Lap 5 saw a battle for the lead begin, as Darksolt started to apply the pressure on the Slovakian who had been leading since the beginning, but it was not until lap 6 that the two drivers switched positions, where Darksolt managed to make “an incredible move”, going side by side for more than half a lap. While the two were battling, Le’Mon made a surprise attack and tried to make a move on both cars by making it three wide at turn three, however, the championship leader wasn’t able to make it stick, allowing Cisko to regain the lead. Laps later, these three kept up the battle, allowing ChroneZ to join for a brief moment, and in the mean time we saw the first DNF of the session, as sp00n accidentally turned off their wheel on the exit of turn 3.

The pit window opened for the soft tyre runners of the race, but only two corners before the pit entry, Darksolt spun at turn 7 and was collected by the championship leader. Luckily no one was majorly hurt, however, it did mean that their hard work had gone to waste. Luckily for them, Rullatorn made a mistake that ended their race and brought out the Safety Car on lap 13. This mixed up the grid order, but put almost all the drivers on the same strategy. This was bad news for MissingYew as they now found themselves lapped by the rest of the field and unable to progress to join the race again.

The race resumed on lap 18, and MisterALTF4 saw his chance and took it, around the outside of Cisko he went, and into the lead of the Austrian GP. Cisko’s luck went from bad to worse, as they now plumet to the back of the grid due to a spin at turn 8. Only a few laps later, Darksolt, another driver who once lead the race earlier on, found themselves getting tangled up with the Mercedes of BNJMN, as BNJMN stuck their nose up the inside of the Alfa Romeo, and showed no sign of backing out, and talking about race leaders, MisterALTF4 also becomes a victim of the kerb at turn 7, promoting Sword4000 into the top spot while and defended from Le’Mon. Le’Mon managed to show a combination of skill and bravery to prove that they are the rightful championship leader, and took it away from the reserve driver in the McLaren. This was short lived as the other McLaren of Sixroi took the lead from Le’Mon, allowing Sword4000 to move up a place too, and then, disaster struck… Gierre Pasly making a mistake as they try to pass Le’Mon too, meant that they collided with the Red Bull, and put them out of the race. This brought out the Safety Car and made everyone question, has Le’Mon just lost the championship lead?

With the second Safety Car of the race being deployed, most of the drivers made a dive for the pit lane on lap 25, allowing MissingYew seeing light at the end of the tunnel, as this meant they had the ability to unlap themselves. The Safety Car went in on lap 27, and Cisko led the way with both them and KA6 using a different strategy compared to the rest of the grid on fresh tyres. Shortly after the restart, KA6 overestimated their hard tyres against the softs as they outbroke themselves at turn 4, taking out IgorPro who now once again was at the back of the grid. IgorPro managed to achieve the fastest lap two laps later, but only 1 corner after setting the lap, they retired from the session, bringing out the third and final Safety Car of the race.

The Safety Car went in, making it a 4 lap sprint race until the end, and with a bit of luck, MissingYew was back in the race again, showing us, you should never give up, no matter how bad things get. Sixroi led the way on the restart and tricked everyone by going for an early get away, allowing the McLaren to have a 1.4 second advantage over the rest of the field in an instant. As the drivers powered on, many drivers made moves and mistakes, which really changed the order, including MisterALTF4 and Cisko both being taken out of contention for the win of the grand prix. Sixroi crosses the line with almost a 4 second lead on the rest of the pack, but loses the position due to time penalties, putting KA6 in P1, to take their first ever win in LSI F1 history. After starting the race from last on the grid, they really deserve that one! With the possibility of time penalties being removed or added to some drivers, we don’t really know who will take the top step in the end, but as of now, KA6 should end that race with their head held high! An amazing effort from the drivers who put on one of the most epic shows for us at Austria.

F1.5 had its fair share of action too, as BNJMN stole away the win from qks after time penalties were applied, and yet again, extending their championship lead, which puts them at 112 points, 52 points ahead of second place, Still.Trash. Another McLaren driver wins on debut in F1.5 NA/SA. As multiple new drivers entered the championship for the first time, Jamo managed to beat them all, and was first to cross the line. After a great battle with the drivers at Austria, FourscoreBike51 took their 8th victory out of 8 races this season, but this one is more special to them, as they had to work harder than ever before to get it. They now realise the competition they are up against, and have learnt a lot on what they need to improve on.

In The Desert

Off to the desert we go, as we head to Bahrain which starts off the second half of the season. A track that requires expert tyre management and crucial strategy skills, the drivers will be put to the test. Can Cisko take another pole position and convert it to a win? Can Darksolt keep the championship lead or will Le’Mon take it back?

The Bahrain GP is dramatic to say the least, so be sure to watch the action live on our Twitch channel this Friday and Saturday, and head over to our Discord server to get involved!