WTEC 2021
THE VICTORY. Starting the race from pole position, Daniele Cascardo (Marlboro) set the fastest lap of the race with a stunning 1: 12.167. While winner Nathan Brumby (Gulf) couldn’t move his Radical faster than with a 1: 12.5 around the Canadian track. Then how did Brumby manage to win?
Everything was set at lap 1 for the Australian. When Cascardo briefly lost his car in T5 of the first lap, he fell back to P13. His race to catch up from the back of the field brought him back to 6th place on lap six already. But it wasn’t until lap 20 that he was able to advance to P4, while he reached P3 at lap 37 for the first time. Except for the phase of pit stops, Cascardo in 2nd place from lap 49 onwards. Once at P2, the Italian was about half a second per lap faster than the leading Gulf driver. Still, it wasn’t enough to catch up til the end of the race and Cascardo crossed the finishing line 9 seconds behind an ice-cold Brumby.
Wynn’s P5. Colin Wynn (Red Bull) started the race from 6th place and got himself into the battle for the top already at lap 2. But his early pit stop at lap 17 might have been too early, as he got thrown back in the field to P11. While Wynn could easily keep the pace at the top in his first stint, he lost 3-5 tenths per lap after his first pit stop. And it didn’t get much better after his second stop. While most drivers burned their fastest lap into the asphalt towards the end of the race, Wynn already posted his fastest lap (1: 12.855) at lap 10, and couldn’t manage to get into the 1:12s in the final stage of the race. In the end it was P5, 30 seconds away from victory.
Brown’s race to the end of the field. Graeme Brown (Red Bull) qualifyied for P8 in a tight field. But contact on lap 2 sent him off track and back to P11. While he was making up places in the field, he lost more than a minute on on lap 21. A second minute was lost on lap 45. A pity, as he still managed to beat his teammates fastest lap by 0.013s. But a turbulent race meant he saw the checkered flag on P11, three laps behind the top.