FinTrack II, Kuusankoski 13.01.2001
So just one week after the first
race in the FinTrack series it was time for race number 2. This race was
a bit further away for me so we had to leave on friday evening. After a
450km drive I just wished to relax and sleep so that's what I did. Most
of the drivers that were at the race last weekend had made their way to
race #2 as well. There was 38 drivers in modified touring and 17 in stock.
It was an ok turnout for a race just 1 week after the last. On paper it
looked as the same drivers would battle for the win as in Tampere. The
track was very, very fast for an indoor carpet track, especially since
it was only 2 meters wide. The grip was very good and at the end of the
day many cars were grip rolling.
It would be even more important than
usual to make no mistakes, as they would be very costly because of the
high speeds. Even the top drivers had a hard time trying to get a run without
mistakes. Not to mention myself... There were also quite a few cars that
were not handling very well, probably because of the unusual track and
high grip. I went to this race with a different setup than usual cause
I knew that the track would be very fast. I basically had Masami's setup
from the LRP race in 2000 that you can find here.
The race format was like last weekend, no "free" practice, 3 rounds of
controlled practice, 1 round timed practice, 3 qualifiers and 3 a finals
and 2 for the rest. I had some problems the controlled practice so I got
very limited practice, then I also had some problems in qualifying. But
the truth is that I did not get a feeling for the track until the finals
and that was way too late. I was crashing like a beginner in the qualifying
even though I was happy with my car. In the first final I did a result
that was about one lap! better than I managed in qualifying even when I
discounted the shorter first lap. Anyway, no more on this now...
The pole position for the a final
changed with every round but after the last round TC3 driver Kalle Lehto
was in front, driving on his home track. After him followed Teemu, Sakke
and Simo. Best Yokomo driver was Jarno Siltanen, just like last weekend.
Kalle Lehto then basically dominated the first 2 a-mains as Teemu was struggling
to get his Axis handling like he wanted. So Kalle won the race with a very
impressive drive with the following drivers finishing like in qualifying.
Jarno did some impressive finals and finished 5th overall with a setup
very close to my setup.
So a little shorter racereport this
time....
Next race in two weeks time
Cya
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