First of all, I want to say a huge thank-you to the staff behind the scenes so to speak:
@Glenalz81,
@merlinrichards,
@Mini Stiggy,
@P1K3Y_M1k3Y and
@RS__96__oO for all your help and time in pre-season to spec the cars. It was a long process, which kept being delayed by changes in the physics. On the whole, the car specs were great, one or two cars could use a few minor tweaks, but we had 6 different cars taking the top spot on the podium, with only the BMW, Audi and Nissan missing out, but more so because no-one picked them. So well done guys.
I also want to send a big thanks to
@roberte for taking on the role of hosting the AM lobby. It's much appreciated mate. 👍
Another thank-you, this time to the stewards:
@Glenalz81,
@merlinrichards,
@Mini Stiggy,
@Phouchg,
@rono_thomas,
@roberte and
@Nail-27. Without the time and effort you guys have put in, this championship wouldn't have worked. So thank-you very much.
I wasn't planning on running this series, but Mikey had to pull out at the last minute so I stepped up and took over. It hasn't been easy, and has taken up a lot of my spare time, which came at the cost of race practice towards the start of the season. Work has been increasingly busy for me this year as well, which hasn't helped things, and moving house just over a month ago definitely interfered with my season. All in all, I am very gutted about how my season finished, but I do think the best drivers prevailed.
Some people might not like the success penalties, but it does help to ensure a closer fight in the title race. We have drivers of all different skill levels, its extremely hard to find committed drivers of equal pace to fight it out with. Even more so by the fact that the standard in both classes has been so high this season. PRO class in particular where it has usually only been tenths, sometimes hundredths and thousandths separating most of the field. The level of respect and skill I have seen this season has been outstanding. Any one of the drivers on the grid could have won a race, and all were a threat each time out. Up and down the grid, lessons have been learnt, and everyone has developed and improved as the season went on. And, as I'm sure others have had, its been great fun! AM was a little harder for some. There was a larger spread in the grid, but again, the main issue was the high pace. With so many fast drivers, it's extremely hard to draw a line and separate drivers. But, at the end of the day, there was still a close fight for the title coming into the final round, and you can't really ask for more.
It was disappointing to see the numbers drop away as the season progressed, but that is down to the strictness of the series. I do believe we have the toughest and most fiercely competed GT series on GTP. It isn't for everyone, and some fell to the wayside. Others had real-life commitments, or had dropped out of contention and had other series to focus on. But thank-you to everyone who stayed and committed for the season.
Anyway, enough about that. Onto the overall results. As there were so few finishers in both classes at the ring, we haven't done a full stewards report, party due to lack of replays in PRO and the fact that any incidents wouldn't really make a difference to the overall standings. So, there won't be a list of qualifying and race times. But, congratulations to
@PASM for a spectacular pole time in PRO of 7'48.914
. Closely followed by
@RS__96__oO a mere 0.747 behind! In AM we had
@rono_thomas taking pole, again closely followed by
@Phouchg. Congratulations to you all.
The podium places in PRO went to
@PASM,
@rclark83 and
@merlinrichards with PASM taking the clean sweep and setting the fastest lap as well. In AM we had
@rono_thomas,
@Phouchg and
@roberte on the podium, with Rono also taking a clean sweep. Well done to you 6.
So, onto the final
championship standings.
Congratulations to
@PASM for taking the PRO drivers title! Immense job all season, I thought you missing the opening two races would put you on the back foot, but you kept on pushing and done it in style at the ring. Excellent job mate.
@RS__96__oO finished second, unfortunately the ring wasn't kind to you this time, but still a stellar performance all season. Seen some amazing pace from you, but unlucky. We actually have a tie for 3rd place between
@merlinrichards and
@rclark83. Merlin takes 3rd place because he has a race win under his belt. But either way, congratulations to both of you. No stand-out performances, but good strong consistent running all season long.
Onto AM and we have
@rono_thomas taking the title by 2 points from
@Phouchg. Congratulations to both of you, either one would have been a worthy winner, how it was so close between you after the entire season is beyond me, but great to see! Just to enlighten everyone, (sorry to rub it in Niko) had Niko gone half a second faster in the race, or in quali to claim 1 bonus point, then Niko would have taken the title instead. 3rd place was taken by
@roberte, a solid performance all season long, finishing on the podium 7 times in 8 races! You kept yourself in contention and a worthy runner up!
Ford had clinched the manufacturers title a few races ago, so again, congratulations to you four. 2nd and 3rd place were only separated by 3 points with Honda just pipping Lexus to 2nd place. Congratulations to those drivers.
Onto the teams championship now, and we have RIP Racing taking the top spot. Congratulations to
@merlinrichards and
@Phouchg! Once again we have a very close fight for 2nd and 3rd, this time only 1 point being the difference. So in 2nd place we have RR Performance! Well done
@RS__96__oO and
@roberte. 3rd place goes to VTec Racing, congratulations
@rono_thomas and
@rclark83.
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Over the next few weeks I will begin discussing next season and what we can do to improve things and make it more enjoyable for everyone involved. The initial aim is for next season to start around March time following the completion of the CORE N24. Before then though, I will be hosting a stock Renault Megane Trophy championship with the final round being part of the support program of the N24 with the round being live streamed around the world. The thread will be up within the next few days (hopefully) so if any of you are interested please sign up!
Again i want to thank everyone who entered this season, thank you for making it the best so far! I wish you all a very merry Christmas and new year! Have fun and stay safe! See you on track soon!