TSA F1 Championship Results

Just over four months ago we announced our massive F1:2010 competition which saw 36 of TSA’s finest drivers battle across three championships to determine who was the best driver. Each of the three championships were contested over 10 races with the top four drivers from each championship progressing to the finals.

That’s where we were on Friday, the finals. We found out who the final 12 were back in December and all that was left to discover was who our champion would be. So, the final 12 suited up for three final races in Malaysia, Singapore and Brazil to find out. Here’s what happened.

Race 1 – Malaysia

The finals kicked off with a predictably wet qualifying session in Malaysia. The session started in very heavy rain but it began to ease off meaning the last 5 minutes were on a reasonably dry track, muddling up the field a little. As the race began Manorhowze was on pole and managed to make it through the first lap unscathed. Unfortunately other drivers didn’t have the same luck as the leader as the usual chaos commenced through turn 1. Colin took a tap from behind sending him off the track but he managed to recover through turn 2 as Spooferbarnabas and SuperJag dropped to the back of the field.

Several drivers started banging wheels into the turn 5 as Tom, who was rejoining the track, tapped Rob causing a fairly spectacular incident with Baxteros and Camdaz. This put Colin alongside Tom and into the double right hander, but Colin braked a little too late and smashed  into the side of Tom’s car. Both drivers recovered and the battle continued for the next few laps until Tom managed to pull away and close in on Jambo. The pre-race favourite then made an error into turn 1 and spun allowing Tom and Colin past before the pit stops started.

Beelzie had gotten a good start and was in 5th place between Manorhowze and AshGraham after his pit stop. He and Manor then collided through the double apex hairpin sending Manor into the gravel trap, allowing himself and Ash through. Ash soon took 3rd place from Beelzie as he had a small spin into turn 1 before a random puncture ended his hopes of some points. The curse of the random puncture also claimed another victim in race 1 with Spooferbarnabas was on the receiving end this time. Meanwhile AshGraham had now taken the lead after Camdaz and Ro6afc11, who had earlier collided, pitted but now had Cam closing in on him. However Ash managed to hold his lead from a quick Cam and take the victory in race 1.

1. Ashgraham99
2. Camdaz
3. Manorhowze
4. THLNetwork
5. Ro6afc11
6. Baxteros
7. Colinbarr66
8. Spooferbarnabas
9. SuperJag86
10. Yersal
11. beelzie14 DNF
12. JamboGT DNF

Race 2 – Singapore

JamboGT was one of the favourites heading into the finals but after the poor race in Malaysia things were looking grim. However in qualifying for race 2 he appeared to have saved his title challenge after putting his car on pole with a stunning lap time. But yet again it wasn’t to be as he picked up a 5 place grid penalty for speeding in Singapore’s famously tricky pit lane. Baxteros now inherited pole position with Tom alongside him on the front row and Ash directly behind.

As the race got under way the chaos returned as SuperJag took too much kerb down the inside and spun out. Tom took several hits in trying to avoid Jag and dropped down to 10th place while Baxteros began to pull out a small lead. On the exit of turn 5 Beelzie and Jambo were side by side with Beelzie very close to the wall. Unaware of Jambo’s presence, Beelzie moved to the right and collided with the stripped pole sitter, sending him into the barrier and costing him his front wing. Beelzie then dropped a place to Colin after running wide at turn 7 but he attempted to immediately take the place back resulting in the two drivers colliding. Several other drivers got caught up in trying to avoid this incident, drastically changing the order of the field.

Spoofer had managed to avoid the first lap melee and was leading Manor and Colin in the 3rd lap. Midway through the lap he made an error which spun him out at dropped him back. Colin was right up behind Manor now and coming up to the tunnel Colin braked slightly later and swerved left in an attempt to avoid hitting Manor. Unfortunately there was still contact and Manor was pushed into the wall. Tom was right behind this and attempted to avoid the accident, which had blocked almost all of the track, but ended up against the barrier with a missing front wing.

The next few laps were relatively calm until Yersal eliminated himself by putting a wheel against the barrier on the exit of the triple chicane. Rob was following close behind and got caught up in the incident, flipping up-side-down for a few seconds. Spooferbarnabas was next to knock himself out as he hit into the barrier while trying to recover from a spin. Ash, Cam, Manor and Tom all battled for 2nd to 5th place until Ash crashed out several laps from the finish. The other three continued to fight but it was Baxteros who managed to pull out a strong lead, taking the victory.

1. Baxteros
2. Manorhowze
3. Camdaz
4. THLNetwork
5. Ro6afc11
6. colinbarr66
7. Ashgraham99 – DNF
8. Spooferbarnabas – DNF
9. JamboGT – DNF
10. Beelzie14 – DNF
11. SuperJag86- DNF
12. Yersal – DNF

Race 3 – Brazil

Going into the final race the top three drivers were all level on points; Baxteros, Camdaz and Manorhowze were all sitting on 33 points with Ashgraham99 just 2 points behind them meaning it was all to play for. After qualifying Manorhowze had to be the favourite after taking pole position from Baxteros by just 5 thousandths of a second. Through turn 1 though Manorhowze locked up and took a hit from behind, sending him airborne and off the track. Most drivers were caught up in the first corner collisions one way or another which allowed the back runners through putting Tom in 3rd and Colin in 4th. Jambo had taken the lead and was pushing to make up for his bad luck in the previous two races, pulling out half a second per lap on the rest of the field.

On the hill up to turn 10 Rob and Tom tapped wheels as the two were battling causing Colin to slow down. This put Camdaz right behind him and he dived up the inside into 10 in an attempt to take 4th position. However the two collided and both drivers were sent off the track, losing a lot of places. After the pit stops Manorhowze came out behind Jag and accidentally knocked him off at the final corner and caught up with Baxteros who was trying to find a way past Tom. Tom made an error which meant he had to defend hard into the next turn and took a hit from Bax allowing him and Manorhowze through. Then in the next turn Bax made a mistake which allowed Manorhowze into second place. Whoever finished highest out of these two would win the championship so neither could afford to make another mistake.

Going into the final corner Tom had closed right in on Baxteros and was about to make a move up the inside when Baxteros braked, causing Tom to hit into the back of him and send them both off. All Manorhowze had to do now is keep the car on the track and he would take the championship victory. Baxteros closed in but Manorhowze held 2nd place and took the title. JamboGT took the race victory after holding a comfortable lead for the entire race, giving a glimpse of what he could have done had the previous two races gone his way.

1. JamboGt
2. Manorhowze
3. Baxteros
4. Tom_lord
5. Camdaz
6. Ashgraham99
7. Ro6afc11
8. Superjag86
9. Colinbarr66
10. Spooferbarnabas
11. Yersal
12. Beelzie14

Final Standings

1. Manorhowze 51
2. Baxteros 48
3. Camdaz 43
4. Ashgraham 39
5. Tom_Lord 36
6. JamboGT 27
7. Ro6afc11 26
8. Colinbarr66 16
9. Spooferbarnabas 9
10. Superjag86 6
11. Yersal 1
12. Beelzie14 1

We couldn’t finish the championship without a word from the genius who came up with the idea for the competition, AG2297:

Congratulations to our champion Manorhowze, and also to Baxteros and Cam The Man as runners up. The TSA F1 Championship was first planned in early September, and was finally announced in early October. Ten weeks of three races per week followed with write-ups about each race going up on TSA and in the forums each time. Drivers wrote their thoughts in the forums here and put their videos in here with the main thread reaching over 56 pages of Championship related content! This has been by far the largest scale competition TSA has had, and all things considered, it has been very successful. We would like to say thanks to all those who took part, to the marshals who had to make some tough decisions and write up race reports and to Peter (Colossalblue) for making it all possible.

See you next time!