Season 2 Finale - TPI LMP2 Championship Finale from Sebring Florida
Grand Finale for ATR LMP2 Championship Season 2 Headlined by Race Clutch
The LMP2 Championship closed out another successful season and the bumpy concrete runways at Sebring in Central Florida could not put a damper on the festivities. Race Clutch solidified its place atop the championship with a race win by Bence Némethi and second place finish by part time bodybuilder and full-time race driver Peter Molnar. Second place in the championship and third Race Clutch driver Peter Zuba had to drop out of the race halfway through today’s race due to illness but he still scored enough points to secure second place in the championship.
Finishing third in the race Apex Tech Racing driver Chris Barrott closed the gap in the points race but still fell 8 points short of Molnar who locked up third place in the drivers’ championship with his second-place finish today. With both IRIDIUM Motorsports PRO drivers Alvaro Melendez and Juantxo Ovalle sitting out today’s race Apex Tech Racing driver Jamie Conway was able to use his fourth-place finish today to leapfrog both in the final championship to finish 5th overall. Congratulations to all our Pro drivers for an excellent season and championship. And congratulations to Team Race Clutch for winning the total $500 driver purse by finishing in positions 1, 2 and 3 in season 2.
The Amateur Championship was even closer and came down to the wire with today’s race. Apex Tech Racing driver James Ibram had to win the race AND win three of four extra point categories to win the Championship- and he did just that by winning the race, qualifying on pole, setting fast lap and being the safest driver. This was enough to win the title by one point over Frenchman Théo Schleret by a score of 232-231. Ibram won the title by literally less than 1%. Equally close was the battle for the rest of the top 5 with Roy Maas winning third place over Alvaro Montes by one point and Apex Tech Driver Kamal Hashimee behind by only another three points. The top five could not have been tighter with the winner separated by one point and positions 3-5 separated by only 4 points.
The Team Championship for both Pro and Amateur classes was sewn up before the race at Sebring with Race Clutch winning the Pro Division and Apex Tech Racing winning the Amateur Division team championships. Race Clutch Drivers Némethi and Molnar won the Heusinkveld Sim Shifter and Handbrake pro prizes, and Apex Tech Racing Amateur drivers James Ibram and Kamal Hashimee won the iRacing gift cards.
Overall, it was a great season and the organizers wish to thank all the racers and teams for racing with us this season. As promised, it was bigger and better than season 1 and we hope Season 3 will be even bigger! We would also like to thank our league sponsors Apex Technologies, TPI, Meridian Audio, Hippo Sports Management and AIS Racing Simulators. Finally, special thanks to our broadcasters Simracersworld TV for doing such an excellent job presenting our series to the world.
See you all for Season 3!!!
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Season 2 Race 7 - Apex Tech Racing Austrian Dallara 120
With Race Clutch driver Peter Molnar on holiday and not able to help his teammates, the Apex Tech Racing Pro drivers were able to take a convincing win at this mountainous track hidden in the Austrian Alps.
Apex Tech Drivers Chris Barrott and Jamie Conway finished first and second while Race Clutch driver Peter Zuba shared the podium in third place and Bence Némethi finished fourth. The points battle is even tighter now going into the final round of the championship with Némethi leading Zuba by 6 points and ATR’s Barrott only 5 points behind Race Clutch’s Molnar in third. The Finale at Sebring promises to be extra spicy with both teams battling for the league’s cash prizes.
On the amateur side of the grid there have been uncorroborated reports that top Apex Tech Racing Amateur drivers James Ibram and Kamal Hashimee spent the two weeks leading up to the race tallying almost two thousand practice laps at the circuit between them. With nothing else to do with their time and ATR team owner Ryan Donaher willing to rent the track for the two week break- the two experienced drivers prove practice makes perfect and ran away with the amateur race. Third place was won up by IRIDIUM Racing’s Alvaro Montes- a driver who has come into his own in the second half of the season. Unfortunately, Amateur class leader Théo Schleret finished down the order in 6th place allowing Ibram to close the points lead to 7 points. Stage One Racing’s Roy Mass finished 4th in the race and is now third in the championship with Montes close behind in fourth. Again, the finale at Sebring is sure to be a barn burner in the Amateur class too.
In the Team Championship Race Clutch has sewn up the top prize with Apex Tech Racing O2 and IRIDIUM Motorsports only separate by 3 points. For the Amateur Team Championship, Apex Tech Racing B1 has what is probably an insurmountable 37-point lead over Stage One Racing and IRIDIUM Motorsports.
We hope everyone will tune in to the final race at Sebring in two weeks. It’s going to be an incredible close to the season.
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Season 2 Race 6 - Hippo Sports Management Cheesehead Derby
After a busy two week break saw Apex Tech Racing driver Chris Barrott hire a new race engineer after the previous one left him without enough fuel to finish race 5, the league moved on to the picturesque Road America Circuit for the Hippo Sports Management Cheesehead Derby. Barrott’s hiring of Jim as his new Crew Chief clearly paid off big time as their fuel saving strategy paved the way for Barrott’s first win of the season as he broke the stranglehold that rivals Race Clutch have held on the series all season long.
Some serious late race excitement further shuffled the race standings and will have an impact on the overall championship standings as well. Race Clutch driver Peter Molnar and ATR racer Hugo Preto came together under heavy braking at Turn 5 and a few laps later Molnar was taken out of the race in an unfortunate incident with one of the Apex Tech Racing Amateurs Andy Spicer who was trying to stay out of the way of the race lead battle.
When the dust settled and the checkered flag dropped it was Barrett for the win, Race Clutch’s Bence Némethi and first time podium finisher IRIDIUM Motorsports PRO’s Gutierrez Melendez spraying the champagne. Despite Barrott’s win for Apex Tech Racing O2, Race Clutch is still firmly atop the driver standings with Némethi at 199, Zuba at 189 and Molnar only three back with 186 points. While Race Clutch remains first in the Team Championship, Jamie Conway’s first lap mistake has allowed IRIDIUM Motorsports PRO to overtake Apex Tech Racing O2 for second place and they now have a 19 point lead over ATR for second place in the team standings.
The Amateur Class was once again won by Théo Schleret who beat Apex Tech Racing’s Kamal Hashimee and Stage One Racing’s Roy Maas to the checker flag. With a mistake on the first lap of the race James Ibram finished near the bottom of the field and lost ground to Schleret in the championship standings. The top three Amateurs are: Schleret with wtih 188 points, Ibram with 177 and Maas with 159 points. This title fight is sure to go down to the wire with neither driver missing a race yet which means the drop race (lowest race points dropped from the total) may end up being the difference in this one. On the Amateur team side Apex Tech Racing is leading but Stage One Racing Rookies has overtaken IRIDIUM Motorsports Am for second place with only 1 point separating the two teams. This championship is far from over and every race will count now with no drops allowed for the team competitions.
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Season 2 Race 5 - Monza Temple of Speed LMP2 Challenge
Race Clutch continues their domination this season and has once again locked out the podium- this time at the Temple of Speed in Northern Italy. With another race win Bence Némethi has leapfrogged his teammate Peter Molnar (or Molnar Peter depending on where in the world you live) into second position in the standings and with another win or two he could end up as the season champion.
Bence’s two teammates known as “The Peters” (Molnar and Zuba) put on a great show for the fans in the stands and for all the TV viewers watching back at home with all three Race Clutch cars running nose to tail throughout the race. Unfortunately, the league sponsor’s cars driven by Hugo Preto and Chris Barrott couldn’t quite break the Race Clutch stronghold on the top three finishing positions. Rumor has it Apex Tech Racing driver Chris Barrott is looking for a new race engineer after nearly running out of fuel at the end of the race and requiring a splash and dash on the last lap- ultimately eliminating any chance of a podium finish and disrupting the Race Clutch domination.
On the Amateur side Théo Schleret has scored another race win narrowly beating Justin Jung, Roy Mass and James Ibram to the stripe. The amateur championship is as tight as can be with only three points separating Ibram and Schleret at the top of the field. This title fight is sure to go down to the wire with neither driver missing a race yet which means the drop race (lowest race points dropped from the total) may end up being the difference in this one.
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Season 2 Race 4 - AIS Simulators ADAC 2hr Prototype Race
Race Clutch driver Bence Némethi scored a rare super slam with the race win, pole, fast lap, most laps led and safest race. His teammates “The Peters” Molnar and Zuba finished second and third locking out the podium for the second straight race. Winning the Amateur race for the second week in a row was Théo Schleret with championship leader and Apex Tech Racing driver James Ibram coming in second and newcomer to the series Laszlo Burdohany with a strong initial race finishing P3.
For the Team Championship the Pro standings are unchanged with Race Clutch extending their lead over Apex Tech Racing O2 and IRIDIUM Motorsports PRO. On the Amateur side Apex Tech Racing and IRIDIUM Motorsports AM hav overtaken T3 eSports who are now third in the AM team championship. Apex Tech Racing has a slim 15 point margin over IRIDIUM and with no drops allowed in the team championship every race will count until the team champion is crowned.
Special Thanks to our race sponsor: AIS Racing Simulators- Former Ferrari F1 simulator engineers making the best home and business racing simulators.
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Season 2 Race 3 - Meridian Audio WEC 2 Hours of Spa
It was a great race at a classic endurance track. Congratulations Team Race Clutch drivers Peter Molnar, Peter Zuba and Bence Némethi for locking up the Pro Podium. And congratulations to Théo Schleret, Justin Jung, and Felipe Riquelme for finishing top 3 in the very competitive Amateur class.
For the Team Championship, Race Clutch, Apex Tech Racing O2 and IRIDIUM Motorsports PRO are the top 3 in the Pro Division and T3 eSports, Apex Tech Racing B1 and IRIDIUM Motorsports AM make up the top 3 in the Amateur Division.
Special Thanks to our race sponsor: Meridian Audio- makers of the finest luxury stereo and surround sound systems.
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Season 2 Race 2 - TPI Aerospace VIRginia is for Lovers Sprint
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Season 2 Race 1 - Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg
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