Round 1 - Daytona International Speedway
Following the inability of GaZ to field and build enough cars last season, Datsun's decision with withdraw, which then caused Mercedes-Benz and Kia to reconsider their positions, the 20X3 season was looking as if only five manufacturers would have to field 72 cars. When Toyota, Mazda and Chevrolet point blank refused to, then The Goof Management took the opinion that there would be a nominal entry field of 43 cars; with some entries still applying to run a limited schedule.
The 20X3 season will be 20 rounds long; with points being awarded 15-10-8-6-4-3-2-1. The longer schedule was decided as a compromise as previously, there were 15 Rounds, 13 of which had an A and B Heat. Teams nominally had to prepare for 28 race assuming that their car qualified for every feature; with teams having to prepare for as many as 41 races if they fielded cars in both races in every weekend. Ironically a longer schedule means less work for the teams.
Also of note for the 20X3 season, was that this would be the first time in 20 years that there would be six previous champions on the grid (being Sakamoto, McIllan.E, Yankovic, Claw, Mann, and Pikachu). The previous record was also six (Pikachu, Levins, Rellings, Weirdo, McIllan.R, Monroe), back in 20V2.
Round 1 - The Daytona 300
Round 1 at Daytona, the Daytona 300, would be 120 laps for the feature race and two qualifying races of 40 laps a piece. If both races were clean, then 22 starters would come out of each of them and an extra place given to last years' series' champion Tse Sakamoto. If however a car failed to finish, then it would not be eligible for the round proper. The two qualifying races would also award points to the top four, being 5-3-2-1.
Heat 1.
Right from the green flag it became obvious that there were two distinct strategies for escaping the qualifying races. Either get to the front and stay ahead of whatever mayhem might unfold or hand around at the back and hope that if something crazy did break away up front, that you would be sufficiently far enough behind it that it could be avoided. Unusually for only a 20 lap race, there were two packs which formed and strategy played out in both of them.
Pole sitter Bandit Heeler deliberately held the bottom line back so that he could hook up with his brother Stripe in a tandem setup. In doing so. he opened up the top line and Asuka Langley used Teutonic determination to swing around the outside of Go Mifune to take the #02 Chevrolet to the front. NERV had been courting another manufacturer over the off-season but that deal fell through. This meant that instead of running two cars as intended, the team was forced to cut back to one and decided to cut costs by buying equipment from Garfield Arbuckle and the GM Factory.
As this was only a 40 lap race, Langley decided that she would scoot to the front and then hope that there wouldn't be any cautions. A quick race would be a good race. Tactically it was not a bad idea as the smaller field of 25 cars should have bred fewer cautions.
Langley actually did manage to hold the lead for 46 of 50 laps but she lost the lead owing to the fact that she still needed to conserve the tyres to make it until the end. She was passed by Konata Izumi and Patrick Mann who used the #43 as a temporary drafting partner.
Izumi was driving a Datsun 500 Z which was originally slated to be part of a multi car-team. Assuming that all had gone to plan, Datsun would have fielded cars for Gojira and Rodan as #23 and #24 and then maybe Izumi and someone else but circumstances shifted and the firm no longer could make the business case. Late last season Datsun announced that they were going to withdraw their entries in 20X3 but Izumi still had backing and a budget for the 20X3 season. With no factory support, the #43 team has been left as an orphan, albeit one with enough spares for four cars.
Now owing to the fact that the chassis across the series is a Brilliant Resources 15 and the hybrid drivetrain is also common, this meant that really all Izumi had to provide was the VK50 V8 and a panelbeater's shop and pit crew. As an owner/driver/operator Izumi had only intended to run a limited schedule but scoring a win and point out of the box, still may yet change those plans. She was followed across the line by Patrick Mann and Asuka Langkey, with Stripe Heeler scoring the single point for fourth.
However it was way down the order where this heat race threw its barbs. As there are only 43 entry spots for the 300, then finishing near the end would spell disaster for a season from the very first round. On lap 39 of 40 and in the last desperate throws of the dice, Martin Gecko made a move which threw the back third of the field into disarray and brought out the caution to close the race.
Gecko was lying in 22nd place and just outside of the cut off for the 300. In a desperate lunge, he tried to go underneath Henri Cornelius' Mobil 1 Holden and this sent the Holden careening across the track and into the path of the pack. It did not end well for Cornelius, Brown, Yankovic, Sakamoto, Kohler, Pikachu, McKane or De Rouge. As this happened so very close to the stripe it meant that all of them were lucky enough to make it to the line before Pacman, and especially McAlpine, Kohler and Kong; the latter three who failed to qualify for the main event.
Gecko's car is an X2 spec Toyota and after having just taken out Team Yellow Toyota's Team Principal, Patrick Mann, he was called back to the Toyota haulers after the race to explain himself.
The danger for six of the seven cars except Sakamoto is that had they been officially scored as being retired, then they would have all been knocked out. Only Sakamoto by virtue of being defending series champion was afforded the luxury of having a free pass to the 300.
For Jimmy Kohler in the #83 Holden Kingswood GTS, this was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. He had signed up for only a few races and even after playing it safe, to have everything destroyed in the lottery of fate was awful Donkey Kong retired almost immediately with his Holden having started in 14th and then expriring in a cloud of smoke before it even made it to Turn 1; Kayleigh McAlpine's Chevrolet was nudged into the outside wall on lap 8 by Greg Rellings and the act of changing the outside tyres was enough for the whole field to whizz by and when she did catch up it was only because of the second last lap chaos and she was not allowed to pass under the caution flags.
Points Awarded Heat 1:
5 - Konata Izumi
3 - Patrick Mann
2 - Asuka Langley
1 - Stripe Heeler
Following the inability of GaZ to field and build enough cars last season, Datsun's decision with withdraw, which then caused Mercedes-Benz and Kia to reconsider their positions, the 20X3 season was looking as if only five manufacturers would have to field 72 cars. When Toyota, Mazda and Chevrolet point blank refused to, then The Goof Management took the opinion that there would be a nominal entry field of 43 cars; with some entries still applying to run a limited schedule.
The 20X3 season will be 20 rounds long; with points being awarded 15-10-8-6-4-3-2-1. The longer schedule was decided as a compromise as previously, there were 15 Rounds, 13 of which had an A and B Heat. Teams nominally had to prepare for 28 race assuming that their car qualified for every feature; with teams having to prepare for as many as 41 races if they fielded cars in both races in every weekend. Ironically a longer schedule means less work for the teams.
Also of note for the 20X3 season, was that this would be the first time in 20 years that there would be six previous champions on the grid (being Sakamoto, McIllan.E, Yankovic, Claw, Mann, and Pikachu). The previous record was also six (Pikachu, Levins, Rellings, Weirdo, McIllan.R, Monroe), back in 20V2.
Round 1 - The Daytona 300
Round 1 at Daytona, the Daytona 300, would be 120 laps for the feature race and two qualifying races of 40 laps a piece. If both races were clean, then 22 starters would come out of each of them and an extra place given to last years' series' champion Tse Sakamoto. If however a car failed to finish, then it would not be eligible for the round proper. The two qualifying races would also award points to the top four, being 5-3-2-1.
Heat 1.
Right from the green flag it became obvious that there were two distinct strategies for escaping the qualifying races. Either get to the front and stay ahead of whatever mayhem might unfold or hand around at the back and hope that if something crazy did break away up front, that you would be sufficiently far enough behind it that it could be avoided. Unusually for only a 20 lap race, there were two packs which formed and strategy played out in both of them.
Pole sitter Bandit Heeler deliberately held the bottom line back so that he could hook up with his brother Stripe in a tandem setup. In doing so. he opened up the top line and Asuka Langley used Teutonic determination to swing around the outside of Go Mifune to take the #02 Chevrolet to the front. NERV had been courting another manufacturer over the off-season but that deal fell through. This meant that instead of running two cars as intended, the team was forced to cut back to one and decided to cut costs by buying equipment from Garfield Arbuckle and the GM Factory.
As this was only a 40 lap race, Langley decided that she would scoot to the front and then hope that there wouldn't be any cautions. A quick race would be a good race. Tactically it was not a bad idea as the smaller field of 25 cars should have bred fewer cautions.
Langley actually did manage to hold the lead for 46 of 50 laps but she lost the lead owing to the fact that she still needed to conserve the tyres to make it until the end. She was passed by Konata Izumi and Patrick Mann who used the #43 as a temporary drafting partner.
Izumi was driving a Datsun 500 Z which was originally slated to be part of a multi car-team. Assuming that all had gone to plan, Datsun would have fielded cars for Gojira and Rodan as #23 and #24 and then maybe Izumi and someone else but circumstances shifted and the firm no longer could make the business case. Late last season Datsun announced that they were going to withdraw their entries in 20X3 but Izumi still had backing and a budget for the 20X3 season. With no factory support, the #43 team has been left as an orphan, albeit one with enough spares for four cars.
Now owing to the fact that the chassis across the series is a Brilliant Resources 15 and the hybrid drivetrain is also common, this meant that really all Izumi had to provide was the VK50 V8 and a panelbeater's shop and pit crew. As an owner/driver/operator Izumi had only intended to run a limited schedule but scoring a win and point out of the box, still may yet change those plans. She was followed across the line by Patrick Mann and Asuka Langkey, with Stripe Heeler scoring the single point for fourth.
However it was way down the order where this heat race threw its barbs. As there are only 43 entry spots for the 300, then finishing near the end would spell disaster for a season from the very first round. On lap 39 of 40 and in the last desperate throws of the dice, Martin Gecko made a move which threw the back third of the field into disarray and brought out the caution to close the race.
Gecko was lying in 22nd place and just outside of the cut off for the 300. In a desperate lunge, he tried to go underneath Henri Cornelius' Mobil 1 Holden and this sent the Holden careening across the track and into the path of the pack. It did not end well for Cornelius, Brown, Yankovic, Sakamoto, Kohler, Pikachu, McKane or De Rouge. As this happened so very close to the stripe it meant that all of them were lucky enough to make it to the line before Pacman, and especially McAlpine, Kohler and Kong; the latter three who failed to qualify for the main event.
Gecko's car is an X2 spec Toyota and after having just taken out Team Yellow Toyota's Team Principal, Patrick Mann, he was called back to the Toyota haulers after the race to explain himself.
The danger for six of the seven cars except Sakamoto is that had they been officially scored as being retired, then they would have all been knocked out. Only Sakamoto by virtue of being defending series champion was afforded the luxury of having a free pass to the 300.
For Jimmy Kohler in the #83 Holden Kingswood GTS, this was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. He had signed up for only a few races and even after playing it safe, to have everything destroyed in the lottery of fate was awful Donkey Kong retired almost immediately with his Holden having started in 14th and then expriring in a cloud of smoke before it even made it to Turn 1; Kayleigh McAlpine's Chevrolet was nudged into the outside wall on lap 8 by Greg Rellings and the act of changing the outside tyres was enough for the whole field to whizz by and when she did catch up it was only because of the second last lap chaos and she was not allowed to pass under the caution flags.
Points Awarded Heat 1:
5 - Konata Izumi
3 - Patrick Mann
2 - Asuka Langley
1 - Stripe Heeler