3 Winners in 3 Races: LMP3s at Okayama

Okayama; the only track to feature on the Matt Malone calendar for a second time, as we burrow deeper into the second season of competition. With a win apiece for Matty Gwill and Richard Dempsey, other championship hopefuls wanted to put their cars into the mix around the Japanese circuit. The fastest car on the schedule, around a technical circuit. Patience and skill would surely be needed here.

Qualifying

For the first time in the league, Sean Simms found his way to pole position at Okayama, in his favourite car on the service. He was surrounded, however, by championship contenders eager to move up to the front of the field early on.

Race Highlights

With the grid set for the third round, over 30 drivers once again set themselves up on the grid for 20 minutes of racing action. To catch up on all of the overtakes, battles and incidents caught on camera; make sure to watch the Extended Highlights video for Round 3.

The opening lap of the race saw the biggest accident in league history - surpasing the lap one wreck at Okayama in Season One. Trying to avoid the earlier braking point of race leader, Sean Simms, Slugger stamped on the brakes of his LMP3, sending it into an immediate spin in front of the rest of the field. With nowhere to go, car after car became involved in the pile-up, taking a lot of strong competitors out of the race for points, and sending Slugger to the pitlane and out of the event. The defending champion, sounding defeated in his own stream of the race, has found the last two races already using his drop weeks for the season to come.

Matt Malone started the race strong, moving up to 3rd place on the opening lap. Unfortunately for him; it would be the only highlight of his day. Three places gained for Dubbs on the opening lap and a strong top 5 result was on the cards. That was until he lost his rear end and spun into the grass through Piper Corner (turn 7).

Championship leader, Matty Gwill, had a dismal start to the race, falling from P7 on the grid to 10th by the end of the opening lap, after having to take avoiding action in the turn 1 incident. With 18 minutes left on the clock, consistency was already proving to be the way to get a strong result.

Lap Three

Richard Dempsey saw an opportunity to take the lead early on in the race, as he peeked to the inside of Sean Simms at the start of Lap 3, as they headed towards turn one. Not close enough, and he had to tuck back behind the race leader. Behind, Matt Malone saw his first mistake of the day send him into the gravel as he slid through turn one.

After carefully finding his way back onto the track with a horde of P3's passing, Malone returned to the race in 8th place. As the race progressed, drivers started to return to the track after the first lap wreck (with the benefit of one quick repair, known in the league as a "free reset"), and were already causing traffic concerns for the lead lap packs.

Redman Corner (Turn 8) saw POWski facing the wrong way after an attempted move up the inside of Ed Redfish.

Lap Four

Lap four saw the recovering Matt Malone make an overtake on Mech_Arm into Turn 8 for 7th, followed closely behind by championship leader Matty Gwill. Both drivers hoping for more out of the race. AuburnKyle, who was deemed a new championship contender after Round 2, spun from a top 10 position at Mike Knight Corner (Turn 10). Fortunately, avoiding any contact with other competitors as he got his car facing the right way and moving again.

Lap Six

LukeSuds moved back into the top 10 at the start of lap 6, making the overtake past TurboSnail as they both navigated past a backmarker along the pit straight. After recovering to P7, Matt Malone drove his car into the gravel at the Hairpin Corner (Turn 5) after braking too late to make the turn, dropping him to P8, behind Matty Gwill.

Lap Seven

On the charge, LukeSuds continued to move up the order at Okayama, making another pass towards turn one, this time on Mech_Arm. Great mechanical grip and the inside line gave him that position as the two exited the first turn.

Lap Eight

If the day was not rough enough for the league organiser (and third place finisher in the first season of competiton), Matt Malone visited the gravel yet again on Lap 8 - this turn through the final turn, throwing him down to 10th place in the order.

Lap Nine

Checkers and Big Al battled it out for the final place inside the top 5 as they headed onto the 9th lap of the race. Big Al defended the inside line as they entered turn one. More speed into the turn, Checkers tried the ambitious outside line overtake through the sweeping right-hander. Somehow, he kept a strong overlap ahead of Big Al, and by the time the track switched to the left, he was able to solidify his position ahead of his competitor.

Lap Twelve

As Matt Malone continued to fight back from his barrage of mistakes, he saw an opportunity to overtake TurboSnail for P10 on Lap 12. A wobble from the man in front through the exit of Attwood Curve (Turn 4) saw Malone swing to the right of TurboSnail as they thundered down the back straight. After heading through the gravel at turn five earlier in the race, Matt Malone found the correct braking point and managed to get his car ahead before the exit, returning himself back into the top 10.

Lap Thirteen

The final lap of the race saw a comfortable drive from the man on pole. Sean Simms managed to convert his first ever pole position in the league, to his first ever race win. A gap of almost 2 seconds to Richard Dempsey meant that with the two drop weeks being applied, Sean Simms would be tied on points with season one championship hopefuls, Matty Gwill and Richard Dempsey. With his best ever result, The Hearnster also visited the rostrum for his first time in the league.

Championship

With the third round of racing action completed, the two drop weeks have been applied. Therefore, only the best result for each of the drivers is counted as it stands, meaning that Matty Gwill, Richard Dempsey and Sean Simms are tied at the top of the standings. Even with two extremely poor races back-to-back, defending champion, Slugger, finds himself in the top 10. He will be hoping for some unfortunate races for those around him, if he wants to find his way back to the top of the standings.

Up Next

Drivers will be back on Saturday 11th October, after a weeks break at the newly chosen Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the GT4's, as we head to the longest circuit ever raced in the Matt Malone Patreon League.

To make sure you don't miss out on any of the races, head over to our Twitch page and give us a follow so that you are notified when we go live!