With season two of the VBTCR championship being a shortened five round season, it means that unfortunately we are already at the final races of the season. A shortened championship has resulted in an even closer championship battle in the drivers and teams championships, but has still retained the superb VBTCR racing that keep us all coming back week after week. For the second consecutive season, we headed to Knockhill in Scotland for the final round of the championship but to help keep things interesting, this time we would run the circuit in the reverse configuration. Knockhill Racing Circuit is located in Fife, just six miles north of Dunfermline. It opened in September 1974 and is the only FIA approved circuit in Scotland. The short 1.27 mile (2.04 Km) circuit always promises to deliver close proximity racing but the reverse configuration gives the drivers a new challenge, navigating the same corners of the circuit that we know and love but in a direction that much of the grid wouldn’t have ever driven before.
qualifying
Having qualified no lower than second in every qualifying session he took part in this season, it was eTeamHARD – Heusinkveld driver Roman Paerschke who once again put his Hyundai Veloster on pole position to earn his third pole of the season. Insignia Racing driver Derek Crowther had a great qualifying session to put himself alongside Roman on the front row with Thomas Dandridge third, Jon Bayliffe fourth and Shane Dunn having his best qualifying of the season and starting on the third row, in fifth.
Elliott James was the highest qualifying rookie driver this week, starting all the way up in 6th position but with fellow rookie Johannes Leppitt starting just behind him in 7th and hungry for the top spot in the rookie championship, the fight for the rookie win in race one was set to be a cracker!
race One
With Roman on Pole and Thomas starting right behind, both drivers knew they had to take as many points as they could out of Ryan Elliotts lead, with Ryan having to start from the back of the grid, this was the best chance both drivers would have before going into the unknown that is the reverse grid race. Roman got away well but it was Jon Bayliffe in his Civic Type R that got the best start, shooting all the way up into 2nd place before entering turn one. Starting right at the back of the grid, Ryan Elliott knew that he had to gain as many places as possible in this race to try and maintain his points lead and he did exactly that, working his way up to 15th place by the end of the opening lap. But another challenge was thrown at the Veloster driver when his car appeared to merge with that of Fraser Geraghty’s in turn one. The mightiest of net codes eventually put Ryan’s car sideways across the track and left his to fight back from last place, once again.
Johannes Leppitt was looking for another Rookie win, trying to solidify his place at the top spot of the Rookie championship and he started that off well, running in 8th by the end of lap one, with the next placed Rookie, Mike Skye a few positions behind.
The battle for 2nd overall entertained us all throughout the race but left Roman with the opportunity to drive off into a healthy lead, finishing over 16 seconds ahead of Thomas Dandridge in 2nd place. Johannes secured yet another Rookie class win and after a superb battle for the 2nd place Rookie spot, it was Scott Morris who bested Alfie Mcgarrity for the other two podium positions.
Ryan Elliott once again fought his way back up the grid to finish in 10th. Roman and Thomas had done all they can to close the points gap, meaning that the Drivers Championship would go down to the final race of the season.
race two - reverse grid race
Jon Bayliffe technically started in pole position for the reverse grid race but Jacob Money decided that pole should’ve been his. With perhaps the biggest jump start any of us have ever seen, Jacob shot up over the grass to somehow enter turn one in 1st place. His enjoyment of leading the race was short lived however, with a stop and go penalty to serve, he was put back to last place for his crimes.
There was a lot of concern heading to Knockhill for the reverse grid race, but as has been shown on a few occasions this season, a small, technical track can actually bring out some of the best racing and for the second season in a row, Knockhill did not disappoint! With the usual battles throughout the entire field, the reverse grid race made for an excellent, exciting watch.
With the title fight well and truly still on, Roman and Thomas drove an excellent race to finish 4th and 7th respectively, but it was the championship leader who unbelievably claimed his first win of the season to clinch that drivers title! Jon Bayliffe had a very well deserved race two podium, finishing just 4 seconds behind Ryan with Derek Crowther getting a fantastic double podium, finishing in 3rd for the second time of the evening.
Alfie Mcgarrity took his second Rookie class win of the season, an excellent second half of the season for the Spud Motorsport driver with Johannes Leppitt coming home in 2nd of the Rookies and Will Martin rounding out the Rookie podium.
summary
There we have it, another VBTCR championship in the books and what a season it was! With ten races, we have had seven different winners from six different teams. We have had a win from each of the four cars in the championship and have even had a rookie win a race overall! But most importantly, we have had 40 drivers take part who have been great, competitive racers who have been thrilling to watch race, and we hope they have enjoyed every moment of their time in the VBTCR championship.
It has been such a competitive season with drivers such as Thomas Dandridge and Roman Paerschke taking the championship fight right down to the final race of the season but five rounds in and after accounting for drop weeks we can confirm that it is Ryan Elliott who shall be named the VBTCR Drivers Champion! After a couple of rounds it looked as though the championship really could have gone to a multitude of drivers but Ryan kept plugging away each week, earning podium after podium and picking up plenty of points along the way. He finally sealed the deal in the final race of the season, picking up a well deserved race win that secured his place at the top of the championship.
The rookies championship was arguably even tighter than the overall drivers championship, with four or five drivers going into the final round who had a legitimate chance of taking home the rookie’s trophy. After an excellent season from drivers like Alfie Mcgarrity and Will Martin, it was TR Powered by Geekz Energy driver Johannes Leppitt who managed to finish the season as the VBTCR Rookie Champion! Johannes missed the first two rounds of the championship but with a drop week, an overall race win and plenty of other excellent results along the way it was a very well deserved win.
With plenty of big name teams competing in the championship this season, the Teams Championship was one we have been watching with great interest. Goldwing Motorsports put up a great fight to finish in third overall, Pulsus eSports had a big improvement over last season to finish second but it was eTeamHARD – Heusinkveld who came out on top to be named VBTCR Teams Champions! Roman and Ryan have had standout results in every race this season, working well together to pick up big points in each and every round showing that you don’t need a big three or four driver team to finish well in the championship.
It’s been great to see so many drivers fighting it out not only for themselves, but also as part of a team. A big congratulations to everyone who took part this season, whether they picked up wins, podiums, personal bests or even just enjoyed the experience, we want to thank every one of you for taking part and helping make VBTCR the highly entertaining championship it has been once again! Make sure to give the race broadcast a watch over on our YouTube channel to see exactly how the championship concluded at Knockhill!
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