The Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka was a real spectacle.
The top three spots in the tournament changed dramatically, with Hewitt making a statement of her intentions to win the tournament, breaking away from Biskup and Simernino who lost three positions each to her and to the rising Epona drivers, who did an amazing race.
Mendoza’s podium spot allowed her to switch positions with Geckinho, she is now 6th but still away from the leaders’ pack.
Gaburi saved the day for Slashware Racing and the Japanese FormulaProc fans with her single scored point, as Denzi’s lap 3 accident (in which he almost ended Wichman’s race too) took him out of the competition. This single point, however, means the world to Slashware Racing as they now surpass Hatena thus getting out of the danger zone as the tournament approaches its end.
Monza, the temple of speed, gave us a pretty rough race this year. Tensions between the top teams build up and were shown on the track.
The top three spots in the drivers’ tournament shifted with Biskup’s performance aided by Simernino’s mishap having him climb two positions back to the top, pushing back Simernino and Hewitt.
Kisielewicz and Bedoya switched positions and remain super close, while Geckinho’s 4th spot, obtained in the last lap, allowed him to steal #6 from Mendoza, who keeps falling down through the ranks after a promising start of the season.
Queenscape remains the leader of the teams’ tournament but Epona keeps getting closer thanks to their added results and Majeyaux’s failure, and Hatena has pushed Slashware racing back to the bottom even with their single scored point.
The second race of Season 2022 took place in the traditional circuit of Barcelona!
Hewitt crashed during the qualifiers and Biskup won the pole position in her stead. Mendoza stole the second place from Geckinho by mere hundredths of a second. Kisielewicz fumbled his flying lap and was bound to set the back of the grid on fire.
Biskup dominated the entire race up to the final lap, building a gap of over 15 seconds to his runner-up. Sadly, a tire failure just a few corners before the finish line saw him leave Barcelona empty-handed.
The fight for the second position was much more heated; Mendoza held into it as much as she could while Geckinho and Bedoya engaged in the fight for the third position, but before the end of the first lap, the place had switched already from the Brazilian driver and then to the Mexican.
Mendoza struggled to contain Geckinho and keep the third position, but he finally was able to break her defense by the middle of lap 3 to finally strike at Bedoya and recover the second position before its end. Just as she was getting to lap 4, Denzi had already struck taking her down to the 5th. She was able to recover this position, however, as Denzi has a close call near the Repsol corner.
At this height of the race (Lap 5/6), Hewitt had finally managed to cross through the back of the grid and join the game for the second position; she quickly managed Denzi jumping into the fifth position and advancing menacing towards Mendoza, and Kisielewicz was not far as he set his eyes over the purple Hatena of Denzi, who gave a good fight before finally yielding.
As Kisielewicz climbed, Hewitt was doing her job as well, dispatching Mendoza and sending her his way. The pressure sure built up over the Argentinian driver, who oversteered near La Caixa corner and was sent back to the 6th position.
Geckinho’s Hatena lost traction near the RACC corner, after retaining the second spot for a big chunk of the race, Bedoya and Hewitt didn’t miss the chance and ran past him entering the final lap of the race. Hewitt surpassed Bedoya at almost the same time as her teammate’s unfortunate accident, however as she was heading to her second win of the season, her wheels locked briefly over the Sabadell corner as she dodged Biskup’s crash site. Geckinho, Bedoya, and Kisielewicz surpassed her quickly to finish the race in that order.
There was a lot of action in the back of the race, as Gaburi did a decent job containing the furious Kisielewicz. She had an accidented race however and ended up crashing near the SEAT corner, in Lap 4.
Simernino had a race to forget, being unable to defend his starting 5th position as Hewitt and Kisielewicz cruised thru, and then losing control of his car to drop to the 9th position, only to be entangled with Wichman’s slower SLARA during the rest of the race. Only Biskup’s and Gaburi’s abandonment could put him in a 7th position, a whooping 12 seconds after Geckinho.
Results
Geckinho’s victory served him tremendously, making him jump four positions to the second spot in the drivers’ championship. Hewitt managed to remain at the top while Simernino dropped three rows.
Mendoza’s single point, on the other hand, puts her above three drivers who haven’t managed to score so far, including the veteran Denzi.
Biskup lost one position because of his unlucky last lap. Were it not for this failure, he would likely have topped his teammate Hewitt!
As for the team’s championship, we have a new leader as Epona raises thru the ranks with Bedoya and Kisielewicz scoring strong! so far it seems the decision to not renew with Wichman has paid off tremendously. Geckinho’s victory also means Majeyaux is now under Queenscape and Hatena. But the season is merely beginning, we’ll see what happens in Monaco, next weekend!
It’s Reveal Day for the 2022 season! We will start with Epona Motorsports. They have switched colors to a vibrant red, and are now sponsored by Playing Mantis Toys. The traditional team says they are ready to claim back the teams’ trophy, after years of research and dev.
Playing Mantis Toys, their main sponsor, is making art through sculpture and toys inspired by the old Japanese toy-makers. Check out their awesome work here!
Kisielewicz 🇵🇱, the runner-up from 2021, remains their lead driver hoping to claim victory this year with his aggressive technique. Wichman 🇸🇪 has been replaced by Mexican driver Juan Bedoya 🇲🇽 as he failed to meet the teams’ expectations.
Their new single-seater has received significant upgrades from 2021, and they have a pretty decent chance at the teams’ tournament combined with their new lineup. But only time will tell!
Under the hood, the design of the car remains very similar to its 2021 specs. Last year they lost the teams’ tournament dramatically with Majeyaux after drawing in points in the last race. Hopefully, they’ll have better luck in 2022!
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HATENA motors 🇯🇵 showed promising performances last season. As stated in their press release: “We are very pleased to announce our new business partner: CENTARRO, we have the confidence that together we will push our team to the next level”.
Centarro are the creators of Drupal Commerce, a time-tested eCommerce application framework complete with content and product management. They provide consulting services and help teams implement it to evolve and scale.
Hatena will also see some changes in their drivers: Denzi 🇯🇵 remains in the team and will seek to improve his good 2021 results, and with Geckinho 🇧🇷 moving to stock car racing, his seat will be taken by Mendoza 🇦🇷: exciting news for the lovers of racing from his home country.
Hatena has always been the target of rumors about their high technology R+D department getting maybe a bit too close to breaking the rules. We will see how it plays for them this season!
And here’s Slashware Racing’s 🇨🇴 2022 open-wheel car. They are keeping the pitch-black design from 2021 and their Hatena power units. “We learned a lot in our first season, and we are committed to establishing ourselves as a strong midfield contender this year”, said its CEO, Zapata.
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CEO Zapata 🇨🇴 wisely decided to step down from the driver’s seat after his short adventure. “It’s been fun but we need a real pilot behind the wheel”. Gaburi 🇯🇵 will remain on the team and will be joined by Wichman 🇸🇪, both ex-Epona will seek to redeem their bad 2021 seasons.
It’s just their second year in FormulaProc, but there’s a lot of expectation already around the team now that they have a solid team of experienced drivers, and Hatena has promised improvements on the reliability of their power units.
And to close the 2022 reveal day, we had 2021 teams tournament champions Majeyaux Automobile 🇫🇷! Their cars have been completely revamped as they welcome a new sponsor: Bombillo Amarillo!
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Top drivers Casalini 🇫🇷 and Simernino 🇮🇹 kept their seats. Their performance in 2021 was good enough for the team to win the championship, but they lacked the consistency to win individually. Will Casalini recover the shape he lost during the last half of 2021?
The winning team hasn’t rested on their laurels and continues improving their car in their new air tunnel facilities in Champagne 🇫🇷. Meanwhile, it’s rumored that an animated series featuring the struggles of their drivers is in pre-production.
Jochen claimed the championship in Brazil, but the fight for the second position was on between many drivers. The challenging and quick Yas Marina circuit was set to reward the brave and daring!
When the time came to race, we met the surprising news that Jochen, the crowned champion, was lost and had been replaced by a mysterious American driver. Second place in the tournament was up for grabs for four drivers. The sunset at Yas Marina promised a fun spectacle.
In the end, Kisielewicz won the race, securing the second spot in the standings, and Casalini managed to stay on the final podium even after his disastrous second half of the season. Majeyaux dramatically clinched the top spot in the teams’ tournament, after drawing with Queenscape and having to resort to the tie-breaking criteria of better score-less runs.
FormulaProc 