S4:R8 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Recap

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By ghost_726

Season 4 took the CRL grid to Abu Dhabi for the penultimate race of the season. With Bigryeguy98 on a 3 race winning streak, and his closest competitor out of action, Bigryeguy98 was looking to wrap up the championship, and move Williams even closer to the constructors’ championship. Did he pull it off?

Qualifying Recap

  • Bigryeguy98’s potential coronation got off to a promising start as the title hopeful took pole position by more than two tenths of a second
  • Isiboy23 enjoyed his best qualification of the season by sticking his car into P2
  • KENNYHITMANHART and jurdiS09 filled out the second row of the grid after KENNYHITMANHART missed out on P2 by .004 seconds
  • Haas teammates ghost_726 and xINCIDENTx lined up beside each other on the third row of the grid, bolstering their chances to protect their championship lead
  • Another pair of teammates, the Mercedes duo of HAL9100 and jmtitan10, lined up on the fourth row of the grid after qualifying P7 and P8.
  • Guitarhero1234 took P9 while KB-0_07 marked his return to the CRL with a P10 qualification on the medium tire

Race Recap

  • To no one’s surprise, Bigryeguy98 was able to convert his fourth pole position into a fourth victory, earning him the championship with one race to go
  • But KENNYHITMANHART put together a sterling drive to finish P2, his first podium of the season, and ensure that McLaren stayed narrowly ahead of Williams
  • xINCIDENTx captured his fourth podium in a row with a P3 finish, while teammate ghost_726 grabbed P5 for his second top 5 finish in a row
  • KB-0_07 made use of the alternate tire strategy to carve through the field and finish a respectable P4 in his first race back in the league
  • Mercedes enjoyed a strong race, bringing home 14 points after HAL9100 and jmtitan10 finished P6 and P8 respectively
  • Aleixcucco27 continued his fine run of form to close the season, finishing P7 and contributing 6 very valuable points to Williams’ title challenge
  • Isiboy23 was unfortunate to spin late in the race while running near the front. But he was able to recover after a pit for soft tires to finish P9 and grab the fastest lap point
  • ChrisKYU62 grabbed P10 for AlphaTauri after a steady drive saw him improve from P13 on the grid

Standings Update

  • The biggest news of the week is that we have our first two time champion. Bigryeguy98’s 25 points in Abu Dhabi takes his lead to 34 points with one race to go, meaning the trophy is his.
  • xINCIDENTx’s P3 performance sees him move up to P3 in the championship, a mere 5 points behind PCC-Godly for P2.
  • Ghost_726 moved 4 points ahead of isiboy23, meaning their battle for P6 comes down to Australia
  • KENNYHITMANHART’s first podium of the podium moves him over HAL9100 into P8 in the championship
  • KB-0_07’s P4 finish sees him score his first points of the season, and into P14

Team Standings Update

  • No team’s changed positions after Abu Dhabi, but several championship battles will be decided in Abu Dhabi
  • The battle for P1 goes into the last race with Haas leading McLaren by 14 points, and Williams by 16 points. At this point any one of those teams could hoist the trophy at year end.
  • AlphaTauri (P5 – 75 points), Aston Martin (P6 – 66 points) and Mercedes (P7 – 61 points) are all in the hunt for the last spot in the top half of the table. Can AlphaTauri hold off the chasing duo, or can Aston Martin or Mercedes grab a podium to jump into P5.

Race at a Glance

Podium – Bigryeguy98, KENNYHITMANHART, xINCIDENTx

Team Win – Williams (33 points)

Pole Position – Bigryeguy98 (1:35.612)

Fastest Lap – isiboy23 (1:37.858)

Most Positions Gained – KB-0_07 (P10 > P4)

Driver of the Day – KB-0_07 (7/13 votes) – It was amazing to return and get so close to a podium, because during practice I was quick but I spun almost every lap. So when I got to the race and just prayed I didn’t spin again, and when I went on to the softs I saw that I was doing well and was happy with the result that I ended with.

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