Race-Report
5 of 12, Saturday, 2nd May 2009 @ Dover
Sowada victorious again
Rene Sowada has won the 5th race of the season at Dover. It was his second win in only four races in
this league.
When the officials waved the last yellow flag, 15 laps before the finish, the then 5th placed German was the first to dive into the pits and restarted with 11 laps to go in 6th spot. The five drivers in front of him all had 25-lap-old tyres, the drivers behind him, most notably Dariusz Maksajda and Daniel Leiss, had new tyres and would probably pounce on any opportunity they would get.
Sowada passed Mike McNealy in turn 1 after the restart when the latter self-spun into the infield. Three laps later newcomer to the ICS Filipe Caldas had to let Sowada by and one lap after that it was Marc van Brakel's turn to admire the 99's sponsor from behind. At this point, Maksajda was still following Sowada closely. Leiss had lost some ground to them both.
Lukas Srnanek did not want to give up his second place willingly. He made Sowada fight for it, but 4 laps before the finish Sowada found the gap and passed Srnanek.
A lap later Sowada appeared at Matthias Bayer's spoiler. The number 101 had led 96 laps in this race up until then, but he wouldn't lead the lap that mattered, because Sowada passed Bayer without problems. Now the track was clear, Sowada didn't make any mistakes and took the checkered flag! Behind him, Maksajda tried to snatch second place away from Bayer, but he came
0.08 seconds short on the line. Fourth was Daniel Leiss and fifth Lukas Srnanek.
Race-Report
4 of 12, Saturday, 4th April 2009 @ Talladega
Polish victory!
Dariusz Maksajda is the winner of the 4th race in the 2009 ICS season at Talladega. The Polish native took the lead in lap 68 and held on to it until the finish in lap 113. Second was Florian Kirchhofer and third Rene Sowada. Alan Strang, in his first race since the 5th of April 2008, finished fourth, the best finishing position for the Scot in the ICS. Marc van Brakel passed Andreas Kroeger in the green-white-checkered restart for fifth place.
Paulo Rocha's 7th place at Talladega was enough to hold on to the first place in the general standings. He now has an advantage of about 17,000 over Matthias Bayer. Third is Andreas Kroeger (+3), fourth is Marc van Brakel (+5) and fifth is Rene Sowada (+6). Race winner Dariusz Maksajda has gained 11 places and is now tenth.
Author: Marc van Brakel
Race
4 of 12, Saturday, 4th April 2009 @ Talladega
Race-Report
3 of 12, Saturday, 7th March 2009 @ Martinsville
Marty Madness
On the 7th of March, 20 drivers appeared at the paper clip-shaped track of Martinsville for the start of the 3rd race of the season. This would turn out to be a race with a promising start, a messy middle, and a surprising finish.
Matthias Bayer was the fastest in qualifying and started the race on pole. It was a relatively orderly first part of the race with only 5 yellows during the first 75 laps (remember, this is Martinsville we're talking about). Unfortunately, by this time drivers were starting to lose focus and there wouldn't be a green lap stint for more than a couple of laps until the restart on lap 186. At this point the race had already taken 1 hour and 45 minutes.
However, the remaining 114 laps would only take approximately 50 minutes, due to two 40-lap green flag stints. With 5 laps to go, Mike McNealy had a comfortable 3-second lead over Rene Sowada. Nothing seemed to stand between Mike and the win when the unthinkable happened. While trying to pass a lapped car at the exit of turn 4 in lap 296, Mike stepped on the gas too early and spun. Rene Sowada, who hadn't lead a single lap up until then, coolly avoided the American and crossed the finish line, Andreas Kroeger in his wake. Mike was then bumped over the finish line before Wiley King could pass him. 5th was Marc van Brakel, only 0.02 seconds ahead of Florian Kirchhofer. The pace car lead the cars around the track for a couple of laps, but the race would not be restarted anymore, so this was the finishing order.
Slow in, fast out. Next stop: Talladega.
Author: Marc van Brakel
Race
3 of 12, Saturday, 7th March 2009 @ Martinsville
Race-Report
2 of 12, Saturday, 7th Febr. 2009 @ California
Wiley King conquers California
The second race of the ICS 2009 season was held at the California Speedway.
Lukas Srnanek was the fastest during qualifying and led the field of 27 drivers to the green flag for a race over 150 laps. Joerg Kormany passed the Czech in lap 10 but he lost control of his car in T2 of lap 44, causing Caspar Kahari (who had come from 27th to 2nd in 44 laps) to crash into him and then into the fence. Joerg, Caspar, as well as an unfortunate Daniel Leiss, who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, were unable to continue the race.
It brought Lukas back in the lead, and soon after the restart a group of four drove away from the rest: Lukas Srnanek, Andreas Kroeger, Mike McNealy, and Wiley King. Wiley took the lead in lap 57 and Mike in lap 63. Mike was very strong during the middle part of the race. He wouldn't let go of the lead until lap 105, even after the for the ICS almost customary green flag pit stops.
There were yellow flags in lap 104, 126 and 131. The race was restarted in lap 136 for a fifteen-lap showdown. At the restart, the order was Wiley King, Mike McNealy, Paulo Rocha (who had been relatively invisible up until then), Lukas Srnanek, and Andreas Kroeger. Andreas passed Lukas for fourth and Paulo passed Mike for second in lap 141. Then Paulo started applying heavy pressure on Wiley, but as the crowd got to its feet, for the difference between the number one and the number five was almost always less than 1 second, Wiley withheld the pressure, passed the finish line and won the race at California.
Author: Marc van Brakel
Race
2 of 12, Saturday, 7th Febr. 2009 @ California
Track-Info: 2 Mile D-shaped oval; all turns 14° banked; Front
Stretch 11° banking; Back Straightaway 3° banking
Race-Report
1 of 12, Saturday, 10th Jan. 2009 @ Chicagoland
Matthias Bayer - a win at the first go!
An impressive amount of 32 drivers with various nationalities appeared on track for ICS's first race of the 2009 season at Chicagoland.
Unfortunately, with so many new drivers unfamiliar with each other, the first half of the race was rather yellow-infested. In the first 85 laps there were 11 yellows, but when the green flag was shown in lap 89, the true gentleman spirit of the ICS emerged and despite some bumps and hits it stayed green until Matthias Bayer took the checkered flag on lap 161.
Places 2 to 5 were hotly contested until the very end; only 0.42 seconds separated Alan J Shoemaker (2nd), Thomas Hendrickson (3rd), Timmy Johnston and Paulo Rocha (5th).
Come back Saturday, 7th February for more racing spectacle with the ICS at California!
Author: Marc van Brakel
Race
1 of 12, Saturday, 10th Jan. 2009 @ Chicagoland
... German-Language Race-Review at the VR-Online-Magazine "
