Rain battles at the Red Bull Ring
The penultimate round of both the 2023 Northern Talent Cup and Austrian MiniGP Series got underway last weekend at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
With four riders representing us across three classes, a new weekend- and qualifying format, combined well challenging weather conditions, it was bound to be an exciting event.
With three FP sessions on Friday, one qualifying and race on Saturday, as well as one each on Sunday, the new schedule forced us to completely rethink the way we approached the weekend. With each qualifying session counting by itself for one of the races, we had to finish all set up work by the end of Friday’s free practice sessions, instead of trying last experiments in QP1.
This proved difficult with torrential rain overshadowing the entire first day, mixed conditions being forecast for Saturday and a dry day expected Sunday.
Despite the difficult conditions, we could make good improvements on our wet setup throughout the first day. This proved key for Saturday’s first qualifying session, as a mixed forecast proved to be another soaked day of running. We qualified in 10th for race 1, with a gap of just over 2 seconds to pole, exactly 1 second behind P4. With this good showing we went into the first race with confidence.
Anakin managed to capitalize of a good start, making up three positions in lap 1 and a further two in lap 2, landing us in the lead group in fifth position.
Sadly, this is where our progress stagnated and we started slipping backwards,
until Anakin was forced to pull into the pits in lap 7 due to his visor steaming up, robbing him of any visibility. After clearing the issue the team sent him out again, but we only managed to fight back up to 17th position. What was a disappointing second day at the Ring only turned souwerer, as the team was noted of a “speeding in pit lane” violation during our forced pit stop, handing us a 2 long-lap penalty for tomorrow's second race. This situation was only made harder as we suffered a minor crash in second qualifying, landing us in a disappointing 16th position on the starting grid.
As the clouds were blown away and the track started to dry for our second race, the whole team was sceptical of our chances for the second race. And whilst we had full confidence in our rider to give it his full efforts, no one could expect the amazing recovery ride he would put in. Another good start and strong first few corners meant Anakin came across the line in 9th position after the first lap, having overtaken 7 other riders. After serving his two long lap penalties in the following laps, he came out in 15th position and well behind even the third group of riders on track. And whilst the team on the pit wall would have been happy with any points paying position, Anakin was determined to show his pace and prove what could have been. In the remaining 8 laps, despite having to ride through two groups of riders, saw him storm up the field and into a tremendous 9th position. And despite being slip streamed to the line in the final lap, a top 10 position was still more than anyone could have imagined or expected before the race.
With racing taking place in the Red Bull Ring’s infield track, the MiniGPs had to deal with the same harsh conditions as the big bikes on their Grand Prix track.
Extreme wet conditions and pools of standing water marked all untimed free practice session on Friday afternoon, and continued through out all of Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions.
The tricky conditions however were no match for the three JRP riders, all of whom managed to find good a good feeling and grip, improving throughout the day, resulting in Danny qualifying in 9th and 4th for the two smaller GP-0 class races, and Anina and Ben locking out the top two positions for both races.. sharing one pole and one second place each.
Sunday’s warm-up sessions went well, with Danny proving his 4th in Q2 was not a fluke, repeating it during the morning’s session, whilst Anina and Ben finishing in first and third positions, only split by the Austrian home hero.
The first GP0 race got off to a good start, as Danny managed to propel his way from 9th up to 4th. He managed to hold this position of a couple of laps, before being over taken for one and then the other position in the laps that followed. At the end he came home in a personal best 6th position.
His second start was slightly more mediocre, slotting in as the 6th rider after lap 1. He did get passed just before the end of the race, coming home in 7th, which was still a fantastic result for the youngster.
The first of the two 190cc GP-2 races did not quite go to plan..
After getting of the pole position well and winning the first hole shot, Anina suffered a crash not long into the race. Despite this minor inconvenience, she picked herself and the bike up again, and started storming through the field and back into 4th. This is where she stated for the remainder of the race, before a final lap overtake for the last position on the podium. Ben had an equally good getaway off the line, slotting in behind his main rival for second in the championship. Whilst he tried to get close enough for an overtake, he decided to take the points for the championship and bring home a decent second place.
Whilst Anina had a fantastic start in race 2, again winning the hole shot and going on to dominate the race, crossing the finish line with over 7 seconds advantage over second place, Ben’s pole position carried less fruits. An apparent clutch issue forced him to have a slow get away off the line, slotting into 5th position and having to launch a come back ride. Whilst he did manage to get back onto the podium and into third position, his lap times do suggest a better result could have been on the cards today.
The final NTC round will take place in 7 weeks time, again together with the IDM at the Hockenheimring, whilst the MiniGPs only have to wait 5 weeks before emerging onto Saalfelden. With Anina leading the way by only 7 points in the championship, and Ben still mathematically in the running for a top 2 result, we look forward to what will surely be a grand final.
Images (c)michael_jurtin
