Istanbul Ameri Cup

First off, congrats to Kevin on the championship. Congrats to Rob on the win. Nice job the both of you.

I qualy'd a spot or two up from what I was expecting. The race got off without a hitch for me. I fell in behind Rob and Kevin into T1 and we headed out. Kevin got real squirrly on cold tires heading into the first tight right hander and I grabbed 2nd and pulled away a bit. I followed Rob for a few laps and he looped it in T1. That is one bumpy corner for such a new track. I took over the top spot and pulled a 2s gap on Rob and held it for a few laps. He regained his composure and slowly started reeling me in. He was steady at about .5s behind with 4 to go when I disco'd.

Heading into this race, I had a mathematical shot at the title. I had to win and Kevin was to have the wheels come of the wagon for me to pull it out. Well, Kevin finished and I disco'd ending the Cindarella chance.

Great season everyone! Too bad this series is gone for now.

Tim - a special thanks for putting together such a great event.

Just want to add my ditto to Garret's comments. Congrats to the series and race winners and to the rest of the podium guys - well done all!

That was a busy one for me, and a lot of fun too. I'd only done about ten laps this morning to get familiar with the track before tonight, and after seeing the Euro race times I wasn't expecting much since I'd only been in the high 53's using my Brno set. Got a bit more out of it in qualy, but still didn't figure I could find the pace to run with the front bunch.

Almost had to try though, since I got a good start and moved up from 6th to 4th going into T1, then up to 3rd when Kevin went testing the Tilke runoff zone midway into lap one. Was wondering if I could manage while I was struggling early on cold tires, but then Mike got into my rear on braking into the tight turn 12 near the end of the lap. Spun me off and with traffic still tight I had to wait for everyone to get past before continuing. Felt bad for him at the time since I knew that would mean a DT and in a race this short that's it. Been there myself. Recently... ;-)

Got going again in 13th and had a number of good battles the rest of the race; Graham and Ryan R put up particularly good fights. Had just gotten by Ryan R when Ryan A went off just ahead of me in T9, but instead of getting by, I of course followed him off. Guess he figured I needed a stronger hint since he went off again in the next corner! ;-) Got the message that time and went by into 7th, which soon became 6th when Scott went off up ahead.

That put me behind my UKNL teammates John and Bill, and we had a fun intrasquad race to the finish. Which lo and behold has put UKNL on top for the series team standings. Well done guys, the boss will be happy!

Congrats to Kevin for the championship, well deserved.

Qual was pretty good and I was happy with the lap time, not as fast as Euro, but pretty close.

I had a good start, but the first few laps were difficult on cold tires and the smallest of mistakes and that is 2 seconds. I made a mistake which gave Garret the top spot...I got back into my zone and dropped the gap a little, but there were sections where he was faster and sections where I was faster.

Then Kevin had caught up and it was looking to be a great 3 way battle (Garret, me, Kevin). Going into T1, I got caught out with Garret's disco and almost spun it, but I think Kevin had a close call also.

So the battle continued with Kevin and I. Kevin got a great run on me down the front straight and made an easy pass into T1. I kept the pressure on and was able to re-pass a few turns later. But that wasn't the end of it, Kevin stayed with me and we had several draft/braking battles all the way to finish.

Thanks for keeping it clean Kevin, great job!!

Congrats Kevin and UK-NL Racing on the championships!

Goodjob and congrats Rob in this one.

I was suprised with my Q. I felt slightly out of control the whole time but I stayed clean and had alot of fun racing with you guys in 7-10th.

Good racing all season guys!

See you in the Cats next season!
RA

Great race for me. Happy with the result. I qualified 9th out of 14 with a PB. I had a lot of close racing with Steve B. and Scott B. Lots of position changes and I never had a moment to breathe easy. Everyone raced clean, which I appreciate. For myself, I pushed my times lower and lower and was very happy with how well I drove. Congratulations to the points leaders. I enjoyed the series!

Thanks everyone for the great racing in this series. And thanks to the admins who did a wonderful job.

I think alot of guys know what my most hated corner is around this track after lap 1 was completed :D. Horrible lap 1. Was happy I just lost time and didn't spin out no where. Made the time back up to 3rd. Then the leaders started to battle and that helped me catch up. Soon after when entering T1, Garret got disconnected(Sorry Garret, that was gona be an epic finish to the series).

So it was down to me and Rob. I was catching then made a mistake. Did that for a few laps and was finally able to make a few consistent laps and got by on the front straight but lost it again on the same lap. Then last lap, last turn, I tried an outside move but I tried to cut too low and we made contact. That was the end of my chance for the "W".

Was a great race Rob. Looking forwards to race with everyone again.

Dang, I had no idea there was contact Kevin. So sorry!

I didn't feel a thing my side.

hehehe Don`t worry about it Rob. It happens and I didn`t look at the replay but I think I came down and hit ya side pod to side pod. Was a flat hit so it just pushed me a tad wide. It wouldn't of mattered anyways. I messed up the other 2 turns.

First time at this track that i can remember. Had an issue figuring it out. One quad apex corner it seemed like ate me up a few times. Then runnin 5th or 6th just had brain freeze, missed a brake point totally. Had to fight my way back and just pushed it too hard and had a few offs. But all in all fun and great racing. All clean drivers, just good stuff. Congrats to Kevin on the Championship!