Mixed Emotions at Formula Challenge Baku brings sombre farewell for Rodger
After a disappointing round last time out at China the team had high hopes for the series' inaugural race at the Baku Street Circuit in Azerbaijan. Rodger returning for his final race with his contract running out after the race whilst Galka was alongside him once again.
With what were said to be strong setups, the guys were confident in what they could achieve this round with neither driver having qualifying penalties carried from Shanghai meaning they would start where they qualified.
Qualifying was then to get underway with it being a pretty silent session. That was until Cameron crashed, escaped back to the garage and went out again which in GPVWC is a forbidden action. However with Cameron showing no interest in racing for the rest of the season after his contract ran out he was not too phased.
Results wise, Cameron and Michal both qualifying well. Cameron in P12 and Michal in P17, setting the drivers up for what looked like a potential double points finish.
The race got underway and Turn One was perfectly clean... Turn Two on the other hand made Banger Racing look as Clean as Formula One.. A giant accident from the 100 metre board to 400 metres after the corner being started by one of the front runners of which then caused nearly everyone behind to be involved with one of those, sadly, being Galka. Rodger managing to swerve his way through the accident to jump up multiple positions into the top 10. Michal having to pit for repairs ending his chance for points.
As the race wound on we had a very close fight for P6 between Rodger, Veit and Jundt. All three drivers of whom are currently racing with the team in other series meaning Team Boss Alex Skinner was sat with hands over eyes waiting for the inevitable accident to happen... Thankfully said accident did not happen with Cameron holding off Marc and David to the flag finishing in P6 whilst Michal cruised home to finish P21.
Race Two was a totally different story however. Both drivers feeling the pressure with where they started. Cameron up front whilst Michal was at the back needing to move up the field... With both drivers starting Race 2 well until Turn Two in which Cameron made contact with another car and span himself down the order to later make contact with Veit and retire from the race. Michal made it through Turn One but got caught up, again, in an accident in Turn Two of which basically summed up his luck for the rest of the race with contact occurring later on and a massive FPS drop causing him to retire from the race.
Alex Skinner (Idos Team Manager):
It was a weekend of mixed emotions for the team and all I can say is we have a lot of work to do from now until Spain on the 10th of April. Not much I can really comment on about this round except that I'm seriously thankful to Cameron for stepping in for the first three rounds and hopefully the rest of the year can be very evident of the pace of our full time drivers. I guess we just have to look onto Spain and hope to perform well there." Cameron Rodger (#80 Idos Motorsport):
"My last race for IDOS certainly started well, Qualifying well in P12, my best lap in a formula challenge car. I was happy as i had been in the P20's in previous races. Race 1 was awesome, i had a brilliant start avoiding all carnage and a risky overtake on Choda got me to my finishing position after and incident behind gave me a good gap, I ended an awesome P6. Race 2 didnt go so well, with a Crash in corner 2, then also with Marc Veit. a couple of half spins too, didnt end my FC career well. However, i am overall happy with my time here at IDOS and would like to thank Alex Skinner for the opportunity as it was really fun to have some more chilled races where i had no pressure. Thanks to my team mates Ed and Michal for the fun chat during the races too. I hope to be back some day" Michal Galka (#90 Idos Motorsport):
"Qualifying didn't go too well... In total I had three attempts, sadly all of these laps weren't great and got me P17. In race 1, starting from P16 I got a good start. I managed to pass one car and got P15. Sadly cars began to spin and crash just after turn 1 and a big pill-up was made in turn 2. In this chaos I damaged my rear wing and rear suspension. I pitted on lap 1 to make repairs which put me at the back of the field. The rest of the race I drove slowly and safely just to get it finished. Race 2 got me hyped up a bit. I felt that if I put my full potential I could get top 7. The start of the race went well, I started from P21 and quickly got two positions. Again in turn 2 I was slightly caught in a pill-up and had slightly damaged front wing and front suspension. However at Lap 5 when I was trying to pass Miguel de los Rios I got an Nvidia driver update popup and my FPS went from 90 to around 40. Because of that I broke to late and hit Angelone that ultimately crashed 3 cars. The FPS in the next corner went even lower and just after turn 2 the game froze and I got and Nvidia driver update popup in my face. Ben Willis hit my lagged car and got my nose stuck in my rear. I flipped the car and got damage , however I still had low FPS that hit an average of about 25. Then I had to retire the car because there was no way to drive in this FPS."
Re-live the action and chaos from the Baku circuit with the official Broadcast from SimNews.TV and be sure catch next week's action from the Spanish round of the GPVWC Formula Challenge Season.
