MTCC S1 R3 Review

The last MTCC round turned out to be not only the best race of MCRO Season 5, but also one of the best races ever, with battles for the lead in both Sprint and Feature. Unfortunately, it wasn't with an outcome - as Obli actually admitted to using a Turbo upgrade which wasn't allowed to gain an advantage, which resulted to him getting a 30 second penalty, as it was his first penalty. If it wasn't for Obli "cheating", we would have most likely had Sot and Agg dominating the whole race once again.

As the CDT Turbo update had came out recently, the cars that had slow acceleration could be now turbocharged or supercharged to gain an acceleration boost without making the top speed higher. The first cars to recieve the upgrade were BMW MTCC and Mercedes MTCC, both getting the Supercharger upgrade. Then, Ford and Alpine got Turbo and Supercharger upgrades respectively. Lotus and BMW Juggernaut didn't need a boost as they seemed fast already without an upgrade.

Also, a day before the race day, Mercedes MTCC's team leader had left the server without any information at all. Sky took his place eventually.

The 3rd race of the season would take place on Pistonring, a brand new circuit with a never-seen-before type of corner - a 180 degree turn

Quali

Before quali, Lio had connection issues and decided to not parpicipate in it. However, his new teammate Watermelon (aka Transferring2) had raced.

After the quali started, Avith was actually keeping up with both Lotuses and was fighting for the lead. Until lap 2, when he crashed into a wall on the 2nd last corner. Now it was Obli in the Ford trying to catch both Lotuses, which he sadly failed as Lotus got an another front-low lockup, with Sot on pole and Agg behind. This is the 3rd time we see that. Obli finished P3, with Syrz overtaking Avith on lap 3 and taking P4, as Avith finished P5. Dhen, suprisingly, got P6, Watermelon P7 on his debut and Dino finished last as usual.

Vark and Lio joined the race in the back as they both didn't race in the quali (Vark joined late). It was also Vark's 2nd one-off race, despite his retirement status.

Sprint

With the quali done, it was time for the race and right away we could see Avith starting late and dropping places fast. Then Syrz and Obli were battling for the lead between them and both Lotuses. Surprisingly Syrz got away quite well as he was keeping up with the Lotus on lap 1, but on lap 2 he started to fall behind, as Obli and Vark were getting close too. Obli overtook Sot on lap 3 and this is the moment when we witness one of MCRO's greatest battles for the lead;

Sot overtook the Ford on lap 3, but didn't gap him. On lap 4, Dhen DNF'd, but meanwhile Agg has caught up to Obli and was battling for P2. However Obli was still keeping up with Sot on lap 6, but was still not leading after the pit window opening. The gaps between P1 and P2 were now bigger, but still close, and after a few mistakes from Sot on lap 9, Obli had caught up a bit to the leader. On lap 10, Obli overtook Sot and was leading - not for long as he lost the lead on the start of the very next lap. His teammate, Vark, was currently P4 behind Agg.

Lap 12 and Obli overtook Sot again. They were very close and the battle was not stopping. On the 180-degree corner however, Obli didn't carry enough speed and was overtaken by Sot again, but was close. But as he went through the mall sidewalk, he lost some speed and was losing to Sot even more. The final lap was on, and both of them had pitted - with Sot getting a better exit. And that's where they battle probably ends, as Obli wasn't able to catch up in just 1 lap, and while he got closer to Sot on the final lap, he didn't pass him and finished P2. Sot had won an another MTCC race - but it was well earned, as the battle was going on for the entire race and both of them could take it any time.

Meanwhile, Vark overtook Agg on the final lap and finished P3, with Agg finishing P4 close to him. This was Vark's first podium after retirement, which was a pleasent suprise (for him, at least). Avith did a solid run and finished P5, however his teammate Syrz wasn't lucky and finished P8. Lio finished P6 and his teammate Watermelon P7, earning his first points on debut. Dino finished P9 without gaining any points, but had at least finished.

Feature

It was now time for a possible redemption day for Obli - and he started it quite decent, keeping with with both Lotuses. Avith was doing a good job too, as he was racing top 4 with his Alpine. He had hit the bridge, though and dropped places easily. It was now Obli vs Agg vs Sot for the lead.

To everyone's suprise, Dino wasn't dead last, he was actually racing for P5 with his teammate Dhen. Maybe he figured out his connection/device issues?Anyway, Obli in meantime took the lead on lap 4 and was slowly gapping both Lotuses - Sot and Agg had issues catching up to him, which finally created a challenge for them. Meanwhile, Lio had disconnected from the race, but rejoined 1 lap behind.

Lap 11, and Obli was still leading with some margin. And Dino who was P4 in the beggining was now being lapped. So sadly we cannot say we saw his true pace after 4 full seasons in MCRO. And on lap 13 Lio had fully DNF'd from the race. Vark also had issues, as he was losing to Agg in P3. Syrz was doing better, though, as he was now ahead of his teammate Avith.

As the top 4 especially were going wide often, they were verbally warned for that, but they weren't given a penalty yet. Not long after, on lap 17, Vark DNF'd due to a low battery level, missing out on 11 points that he currently had. Agg, Sot and Obli were warned again on lap 22 as they kept going wide. 1 lap later, and Avith DNFs.

While sprint was a constant battle for the lead, feature was mostly a cruise for Obli, as he was around 2-3 seconds ahead of P1 on lap 24. He had also lapped Syrz. He eventually went to win his 2nd race in the same day (he had also won GT S4R3) and his overall 3rd race. Probably the best MCRO weekend for him, he was on podium for every single race today. Sot finished P2, making it his second "loss" in this MTCC season, and Agg finished P3. Syrz was more lucky than in Sprint and finished in P4, Watermelon finished in P5 in his first race weekend, and Dhen got P6. Dino got P7, finishing 2 laps behind the leader.

Post-race

Despite being in the fastest car in MTCC even before the upgrades for other cars, Agg complained about the balance, requesting the Ford to be downgraded back to what it was in R1-R2. However that upgrade provided a decent battle in the Sprint - Obli vs Sot, Agg vs Vark. Alpine proved to be decent during the starts of the races, but thanks to multiple mistakes it turned out to be average, with none of the drivers finishing on podium. BMW MTCC was doing okay, so was BMW Juggernaut, especially after their double podium last weekend. Mercedes MTCC didn't parpicipate at all, thanks to the lack of drivers available.

In the driver's championship, Sot was still leading with 99 points, Agg was 2nd with 82 points (17 points behind) and Obli had 69 points (nice), sitting in 3rd. While that race helped him in the championship, the chances of him getting it are for now pretty low. In the constructor's championship Lotus had 181 points, 76 points ahead of Ford. Would've been 65 points ahead if Vark didn't DNF, but well, life. Juggernaut had 47 points, 2 more than Alpine in P4. And then BMW MTCC had 34 points, most of them gained thanks to Watermelon. Mercedes MTCC was the only team with a single-digit point count, thanks to their main driver leaving the server after a frustrating 2nd ever race.

After the race, we also saw iliart re-retire after only doing 1 race for Juggernaut (only for racing, he will be still a team leader for McLaren GT). Dino was meanwhile "hired" after his showing in this week's race.

Next round will be on High-Mountain Figure 8, an interesting track as well.

Will the championship see a major standings change? Will Alpine finally get P3? Will Lotus go back to the absolute domination like in R1? You'll have to see that next week.