Unlike GT, MTCC provided some really intense battles for the lead - like in R2 and R3, where Obli was challenging the Lotuses, the championship leaders. The cars there seemed more balanced than in GT, although at most of the track the Lotus was a really dominant car. In R4, the Lotus was a few hundreths faster than the rest, with BMW coming close. The track allowed cars with a high top speed to catch up on the highway. But will this mean an another dominant race for Lotus?
Quali
Funninly enough, there were 2 qualis in this race. The first one ended with Obli taking pole, with an illegal engine, however. The quali was then restarted with all cars on correct engines, with Agg taking the lead and Obli coming close. However the P2 spot was quickly taken by Sot, who later got the lead. Closest cars were Avith and Vark in the BMW Juggernaut. Both cars were surprisingly keeping up with the leaders. As the quali led to a close, Sot and Agg got P1 and P2 respectifully, Obli got P3, Avith P4, Lio P5, Vark took P6 from Blaze on the final corner and Watermelon finished last. Zorec DNF'd on lap 3 as he spun out.
Sprint
Race started with both Lotuses taking the top 2, however Avith very soon overtook Agg for P2, but lost it thanks to Agg cutting the highway exit "triangle turn". Avith was still racing Agg for P2, though, as was Vark and Obli for P4. Lap 3 - Sot started to create a gap and Obli, Agg, Vark and Avith were racing for P2. Then Agg slowed down a bit and it was now a 3-way battle. Agg was now down to P5, and on lap 4, Zorec DNF'd due to the same issues as in quali.
Despite top speed disadvantages, Avith was leading the P2 battle, which was going on for a really long time (6 laps so far). On lap 8 however Avith dropped a bit, but still had a chance. It was also discovered that Agg disconnected mid-race, we don't know which lap, though. Lap 11 - Avith dropped a bit again and it was now a battle between Vark and Obli, with Obli being P2. On the same lap, Blaze DNF'd due to oversteer issues.
As Sot pitted, Obli was now fighting for the lead on lap 13, however hopes were shortlived as both Vark and Obli have pitted, leaving Sot in P1 on the final lap. He eventually won the race with a 4-5 second gap, with Obli and Vark fighting for P2 until the last stretch of road, making a photo finish:
Obli was a bit ahead of Vark and got P2. Avith got an another close finish with Watermelon, getting P4. Lio finished last, P6 - which isn't a bad result considering Zorec, Agg, Blaze DNF'ing and both Merc drivers not appearing. To sum it up - despite Sot leading with some gap, it was one of the more interesting MCRO races so far.
Feature
Agg started well, with Obli, Sot, Vark and Avith coming close. He then lost the lead to both Sot and Vark. Vark actually started leading in lap 2, but was quickly overtake by Sot in the triangle corner. It was now a 4-way battle for the lead between both Mustangs, Vark and Sot. Unfortunately Blaze spun on the final corner of lap 3, reducing the battle to a 3-way battle. And on the very next lap, Sot was already creating a gap - but it didn't stop Obli and Vark, as they were keeping up. Sot's teammate, Agg meanwhile was in P4.
Lap 7 - Sot was making an even bigger gap, and Vark was still racing Obli for P2. It was R4 all over again, without Avith and Agg now. As laps flew by, the gap between Sot and P2 was getting smaller, allowing both drivers to catch the leader. However, they've failed to get the lead, as Sot "escaped" both drivers again. But the gaps were really similar thorough lap 11-14, with a P2 battle going on at all times. Obli was now getting away from Vark, though. He even lost P3 to Agg for a while. He gained his P3 back however after Agg disconnected again on lap 17.
Lap 18 - Obli was still trying to catch up to Sot, with little outcome as gaps were not being smaller. 2 laps later, Avith caught up to Vark and was now racing him for P4, as Blaze took P3. Thanks to that, Obli was now "chilling" in P2. The rest of the race was pretty stale, but there was the mentioned battle for P3 between Vark and Avith - as Blaze sadly disconnected on the last lap. The battle went on until the final laps, where Vark eventually got P3.
With both races wrapped up, Mat, aka me, have announced that he will be taking a break from race hosting, giving that role to Vark and some other people. I will be only hosting the final races of GT and MTCC, and later - who knows?
This race ended up also being somewhat interesting, with battles until the very end, mostly involving Vark. The BMW MTCC's didn't do well however, mostly finishing in the last positions - despite their car being quite fast on that track. As Agg never finished a race that day, Lotus got points only from Sot, meaning that Ford had a chance to catch up - which they didn't do as Blaze didn't finish Sprint and didn't do well in Feature. That was the final race review from me for now, next review will be GT and MTCC R7 reviews. See you soon!
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