Complete Race - 100 Miles of Genk 6 September 2019

Описание: On September 6th 2019 Advanced Racing Project drivers Justin Rotte, Berend Stofferis and Olaf Stofferis finished sixth in the '100 Miles of Genk' endurance race held at Karting Genk. This video shows the complete race footage. The team used kart #17.

Race Report:

This race marked the first outing for team ARP at Karting Genk. The team used the pre-race qualifying session to explore the track. Although kart #17 proved quick in a straight line, it suffered from excessive understeer in the corners. Justin ultimately posted the 18th fasted time (out of a field of 42 teams). In all likelihood however, the team on pole position (Audi Racers) cut the track while posting the fastest qualifying time.

Olaf took up driving duties for the first stint. The race was unexpectedly started with the green flag instead of via the starting lights as communicated during the briefing, which caused a slow reaction off the line by some drivers. Olaf’s reaction time was okay, but his start was impeded at the first corner when his path got blocked by a competing team slipping in front of him (00:00:42). After this adverse beginning, Olaf slowly rolled into a rhythm, and started to make up positions: between lap 2 and lap 10 he gained 8 places. From this point, an 11 lap long battle unfolded between Olaf and two other drivers (Avimite and Overstappen 1) for 7th position. It was during this phase of the race that Olaf recorded his personal fastest lap time (lap 17, 00:19:42).

As more competitors ahead entered the pits, team ARP progressed up to 4th position. Olaf was called into the pits himself by lap 28 (00:33:18) for a mandatory refueling stop and again in lap 34 (00:41:54) for the first out of three mandatory driver changes. When Justin took over driving duties, team ARP had dropped back to 16th place. Justin’s complete stint proved quite uneventful: most overtakes took place when other drivers were pitting. In lap 55 Justin claimed 2nd place momentarily as team ARP planned the final two stops later than most other teams. Justin proceeded to record his fastest personal time in lap 64 (01:17:36) before concluding his stint with two back-to-back driver change pitstops (01:21:45 and 01:23:53).

The final pitstop sequence caused team ARP to fall back to 8th place when Berend took over the wheel in lap 68 for the final stint of the race. In an effort to deal with the omnipresent understeer, Berend started with a too aggressive driving style, overdriving the kart. This is resulted in a short detour across the grass (01:26:04).

In lap 72 Berend encountered team QGRT, who had lost time due to an incident (01:29:09). A long battle initiated with team QGRT for 6th, which lasted until the end of the race. The opposite performance characteristics of the karts involved made this battle particularly interesting: unlike the material of team ARP, the kart of QGRT clearly lacked speed on the straights, but appeared to have superior handling.

A first barrage of attacks started around lap 75, with both teams switching positions multiple times and even temporarily going four abreast while trying to deal with a group of backmarkers (01:35:36). QGRT ultimately got hold of sixth position by lap 78 and started to drive away into the distance with superior pace.

Over the course of the following 10 laps however, the pace difference started to reverse. Gaining more experience with the track lap by lap, Berend’s pace increased further and further. While chasing QGRT, he posted the best time of team ARP during this race in lap 87 (01:46:37). Berend regained connection with QGRT by lap 89 and initiated a second series of overtakes. Some mistakes on Berend’s part however (01:50:01, 01:50:52 and 01:53:15) allowed QGRT back through at given instances, such that ARP remained in 7th.

With the element of surprise now gone, QGRT started to drive more defensively and it became more difficult to get past. Around 01:54:51 proved a deciding moment when Berend set-up a dummy to get hold of the inside line into turn 1, and he succeeded in regaining sixth. QGRT tried to counter, in particular with a pass in the penultimate corner of lap 96. During this attempt team ARP was pushed wide on the grass (01:58:07), but team QGRT showed sportsmanship by allowing ARP back through.

For the remaining two laps, Berend was able to retain his position, such that team ARP finished sixth with 98 laps in total. What followed is a bonus lap (02:00:44): the timing results show that the race stopped after 98 laps, but the checkered flag had not yet been waved, such that drivers were unaware the race had already finished.

Filming Equipment:

Olaf’s stint - GoPro Hero7 Black Edition
Justin’s stint - GoPro Hero6 Black Edition
Berend’s stint - GoPro Hero7 Black Edition

N.B. the sound of the Hero7 alters from stereo to wind mode when gaining speed, as we forgot to fix the sound to one setting.

Outro Music:

Hyperspeed - Eveningland:    • Видео