With seven rounds of 15th City Liga's season behind us I've got to known the competition a lot better than before round one. I've barely ever had a chance to race any of these chaps, so I had no idea what to expect. But thru trainings and the races I've got to see ups and downs of some of them.
Pärschke - Man that shines on odd occasions
He wasn't tipped as a favorite before season by City Liga. Nonetheless, he stepped onto the podium twice thru the course of seven rounds. He usually qualifies in the midfield, but that doesn't stop him to make his way up the grid by the end of the race. His first podium finish was in round 5 when we raced on streets of South City Long reversed in UFR. The qualifying once again didn't go too well for him as he started lowly 13th. But he shone in race passing one competitor after another to finish 3rd and take his first podium of the season. Pärschke would repeat his best result in last round on infamous Fern Bay Black rev with FO8. He went for a strategic move to qualify on less fuel in order to get himself out of the midfield to 4th on the grid. After ziomm crashed out in front of him he was already into 3rd by the end of lap one from where he would take his second podium of the season.
It seams that the most difficult combos suit his style rather than a specific type of car.
Patrick - Double champion missing a spark this year
It just seams like the qualifying isn't going his way this year. In round 1 from 17th on the grid in he wouldn't score many points in FOX around South City Classic. As he also doesn't like fwd very much, not many points came out of demo combo in round 2 for him and then he missed an UFR race. But he showed a glimpse of brilliance in round 2. From 10th on the grid he worked it out all the way up to 3rd passing one opponent after another. We saw him on the podium again in round 6. This time he started from 6th lunching himself into 4th on the opening lap, but after a spin few laps later he was back all the way down to 10th. Once again he would just turn it on and pass his competitors on a near impossible passing combo to finish on final step of the podium. Will he find his old magic as the season closes, we're yet to see.
Basti - Fierce fighter
His only podium finish came in round 5. He fought hard with Paddi and myself, but after we both retired he took an easy second to score his only podium of the season. I had a rare occasion to fight him on track in round 2 after I had dropped some places with FPS drop on start and from that experience I can tell you this man goes to the limit. Inch perfect whilst side by side at 200km/h and even making slight contact is as hairy as it gets, but not to crash himself or anyone else. After the race he said "Can't do that fight with everyone, but I know it was possible to do with you." Perhaps the man is right. He had couple of race incidents in other rounds. However, they were more of result of bad luck than anything else.
Max - Man of consistency
The double podium finish came for him early on in round 1. In first race he was denied of victory by Daniel when they finished in same order they started the race. In second race, with reversed grid race, he made a good progress early on, but by that time he got up to 2nd, Paddi was already way into the distance. 7th, 4th and 8th in rounds two to four was a good bag of points for him. After he missed round 5 bad luck struck him in round 6 when the connection issues put him off the good course to another podium finish as he was in 3rd at the time. And in last round his LFS must have minimized as he went head on into the wall to damage and damaged his car badly later to retire from the race. I hope he turns his luck around in remaining of the season.
Paddi - The Charger out of title chase
Man who came short of the title in last season went onto a great start taking victory in race two of opening round of this season. He used my fps drop very well in round two to take another victory and the championship lead. Not lacking anything in fwd cars either he nipping it on pole position in round 3, but finishing only 3rd after a lovely battle in opening laps with Schuhti and myself. As he missed the fourth round of the season he would have just another dropout left, which unfortunately for him came straight in the next round when his wheel failed him from another podium finish. The wheel wasn't repaired in time for next round and he's out of the title chase. It's a great shame as we had some great close racing together. I'd love to see him come back doing some more races just for fun.
Daniel - The FOX specialist
He took his only victory of the season right at the very beginning. From pole to race victory in round one. He had a good battle with Paddi in opening laps of round two, but was outpaced to race victory. Round 3 showed us that he might not like fwd cars very much when he took only 9th on the grid. Nonetheless, he took good points from 5th place. This was later to be confirmed when he missed round 5 of the season. In round four I had a rare chance to have a battle with him. He nipped it onto his second pole of the season and took yet another podium finishing second once again. RAC and it's snappiness did him no favors, so he managed 4th only in round 6. However, he was still very much in the title chase before round 7 when an odd mistake in qualifying saw him last on the grid. Once he repeated the mistake he was out of the race, scoring his second dropout. With 66 points deficit he is still in the game, but it's going to be very difficult for him.
Schuhti - The underdog
Two time championship runner-up didn't go onto the best start to the season. Scoring medicare points in round one and missing round 2, he would have to show a very strong outing in remaining of the season. He took his first podium finish in round 3 with second place and continued with third in the next round. Around South City on what seamed to be his favorite combo of the season he took flag to victory race from his first pole position in UFR. His smooth style was very suitable to RAC when he nipped it onto pole position once again, but this time only by a 0.01sec and he took his second straight victory sustaining all the pressure to take the championship lead. The smoothness worked well for him in FO8 as well, outqualifying me by a margin of 0.02sec this time. After being leapfrogged in the race he kept his cool and took good points with second. With marginal lead of 2 points there's a long way to his championship. Interestingly, he likes to do most of his practice offline.
Man who came short of the title in last season went onto a great start taking victory in race two of opening round of this season. He used my fps drop very well in round two to take another victory and the championship lead. Not lacking anything in fwd cars either he nipping it on pole position in round 3, but finishing only 3rd after a lovely battle in opening laps with Schuhti and myself. As he missed the fourth round of the season he would have just another dropout left, which unfortunately for him came straight in the next round when his wheel failed him from another podium finish. The wheel wasn't repaired in time for next round and he's out of the title chase. It's a great shame as we had some great close racing together. I'd love to see him come back doing some more races just for fun.
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