As I said, Motegi was mad as heck.
Neo got the pole.
Jermiat grabbed the lead in Turn 2, but at the same spot the next lap, firstly the #16 car (we'll see him again) spun Veron's 8
And then SidewaysReaction performed this apt manouevre on Shinji, with assistance from Championship frontrunner Fried
On the restart, Lan Evo took the lead, then...
Video at bottom
This was a disaster for teams championship leaders Penske- one car was at the back after being involved with Shinj, now the second was out of the race.
Lan Evo led back to green on lap 12 and held for the next 6 laps until Priesty, in a BMW that's not even had a podium yet (although they are 9th in points because consistency) took the lead on the way to the white.
However, Josh wanted the win. Really badly. And dived into the final corner.
And this happened.
The race only got weirder
after the green. Running to the line, ZX48 (who recently replaced Kubas following the former being removed from the server) and Preston crashed and this happened as a result:
replay at bottom
The pile included two full teams (Autobacs and Camp) as well as championship 1st and 2nd,
@S1llyB1rd and Fried Earth. But they all got full finishing points as this happened after the green.
The final order was as follows:
Points saw big moves for Beetlejuice, Priesty, Marky and Josh simply because they didn't crash or be slow as the late track change (it was intended originally to be Valkenburg until that track failed) proved the great equaliser.
Teams saw the top 3 constrict, and BMW leap to 5th
Videos:
Onboard with Based for his crash
View attachment NR2003 2020-12-10 14-56-28.mp4
External view of the pileup
View attachment NR2003 2020-12-10 15-14-45.mp4
Inside view of ZX48, leading up to the pileup (this is also how the pileup happened)
View attachment NR2003 2020-12-10 15-15-23.mp4