This Friday the fbl-community takes the Radical SR8 out of the garage for the last race of the 2022 Sprint Championship. Here’s what’s at stake.
With an extraordinary performance throughout the season, Denis Kiriakopoulos has set himself a comfortable stage for this Friday. 25 Points ahead of Marco Tolman, 37 Points ahead of Ola Braaten (Team SloWmo) and 38 Points ahead of Erik Hanoy, all he has to do is finish the race in P11 to not even have to worry about Incident Points, Fastest Laps or Pole Positions before celebrating his first fbl-Championship.
Marco Tolman, second in the line for the Championship, is 25 Points behind Denis but has to make 33 Points more than him at Interlagos, because a good result will make him lose 7 Points to drop-weeks.
Next is Braaten, who has already made use of his drop-weeks and would need to gain 38 points over Denis to come out on top. At the same time a good result will get Hanoy rid of 15 Points at Round 5, and thus leave him with the smallest chance to take the Championship – 38 Points down and making up the 15 he would lose add up to 53 points needed. That’s even more than he would get for a victory. So beside winning at Interlagos, Erik would need 3 points in addition by Incidents, Fastest Lap or Pole Position. That said, Erik’s chance only comes to live when Denis has to retire his car.
But where else to expect something like this to happen than at Interlagos. No need to look at the stories F1 has written there, also the previous championship deciders in the fbl had been thrillers until the final corner.
THE TOP 5 AND BEYOND?
Mike Busson, John Mchutchison (Team Radline), Paul Crabb (Team Radline) and Nihad Gluscic (Ma Dai) will battle out the places behind the those still in reach for the crown.
Busson, and with a lot of help from Jose Carlos Pace, even Mchutchison and Crabb can hope to finish the season among the Top 3 – as long as Braaten and Hanoy have a nightmare of a race.
Nihad Gluscic will be a former Champion next Friday. And being down 20 Points to Busson, only and outstanding performance will put P5 within his reach. At least he doesn’t have to worry all that much for his back, as he is 24 Points clear from Paul Velasco and Steffen Scheen (Team Vikings).
But as Paul Velasco won’t get on track, David Walters has it in his own hands to get in the Top10 of the final Standings. For Rolleston and Peasley 25 is the magic number to take P11, and who knows maybe even get into the Top 10. Although, they will have to worry about Alfons Ruiz (HRT) – who took victory at Interlagos last season – and has shown at Road America to be on fire again, while sitting just 14 Points behind Rolleston and Peasley. Furthermore Anders Lillejordet (Team Vikings) looks definitely good to make up some places in the Championship.
AND THEN COMES THE REAL DEAL!
Robert Williams, Sandro Kapeller (Essential Racing Team), Glenn-André Kristiansen (Team SloWmo), Damian Gee (BSR) and Iwan Bremer (HRT) will be in battle for the last prestigious positions within the Top 20. The six drivers are separated by just 15 Points while there are only 3 places left within the Top 20.
AND THE TEAM-CHAMPIONSHIP?
Team SloWmo enters the final race of the season with a comfortable 63 Points lead over Team Vikings, which themselves are 69 Points ahead of Team Radline.
Followed just 5 Points down by HRT, Bremer and Ruiz are still in a promising position to take P3 from Team Radline. And with an outstanding performance even the reigning Champions from Team Ma Dai might have a say on who takes P3 in the end.
AND WHAT ABOUT THE INCIDENTS?
Alexander Roggenbuck is on his way to become cleanest driver of the season. Only Denis Kiriakopoulos can take this crown away from the German by making 3 Points more in this category than Alex at Interlagos. That said, Denis would need to finish the race with 0 Incidents and hope for the best.
So everything is set for a Championship-Finale like one can expect from the fbl at Interlagos. Let’s get prove on Friday.
RSC 2022 Season-Finale, Friday July 1st, 19:30 GMT live with James Parfitt >> https://youtu.be/U9KWbg6UIho