Asahi Suzuka azuma

Asahi Suzuka azuma
Event 1 of 7 in Nihon Tour
Date	Thursday, 7th February 2013
Venue	Suzuka Circuit, Japan
Entrants	23
Races	3
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The opening event of the Nihon Tour saw the first official racing of 2013 take place. This was the first event to feature mixed lobbies, rather than the tiered lobby system used since the start of season five.

The event saw a record equalling 23 drivers take part, among them five newcomers making their racing debuts; Blairy, Kirky56, KoopaTroopa14, Pyjames91 and ZeroxDeathAngel - the latter being the first American driver to start a Really Rubbish Race. This is the highest number of simultaneous debuts ever seen in the club.

There would in fact have been six drivers making their debut, but sadly CyberSamurai was unable to connect to either lobby.

Round 1 - Feature Race

Round 1 - Feature Race
West Circuit
Distance	16 laps	34.4 miles
Pole Position
Driver/Team	Adam Smith	Black Raptors
Time	1:29.150
Fastest Lap
Driver/Team	Adam Smith	Black Raptors
Time	1:28.438
Podium
First	Adam Smith	Black Raptors
Second	Lee Harrison	Goteki House
Third	Dan Thorn	The Indypendables

Summary

The Nihon Tour got underway at the Suzuka circuit. The most notable absence was current champion and #1 Shouty. This left Smifaye, Flob, and new boy Blairy to battle it out for pole. Smifaye just pipped them to pole by 0.483 of a second.

The race was full of changes of position with some drivers out of position due to a poor qualifying, in particular Bookoi and TommyB who qualified 19th and 20th respectively. Bookoi managed to make his way through the field with some great overtaking moves and got himself into the points before too long. Tommy however wasn't as fortunate and was struggling with his new Veloster. Out in the front Smifaye was building a good lead over DanThorn in Lobby 1 with Flob inbetween the two racing in Lobby 2.

The new racers got off to a good start, particularly Blairy and Kirky. Blairy found himself in a podium position before he gave in to the pressure of Dan and Ajokay. However no one could stop Smifaye from taking the perfect result, pole, fastest lap, leading every lap, and the win.

Qualifying Results

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Car	Lobby	Time	Diff.
1	55	Adam Smith	Black Raptors	Honda Civic Type R	1	1:29.150
2	7	Lee Harrison	Goteki House	Honda Civic Type R	2	1:29.633	+0.483
3	11	Liam Blair	BLAIR|one	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	1	1:29.637	+0.487
4	802	Dan Thorn	The Indypendables	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	1	1:29.987	+0.837
5	75	Niall O'Connell	PSP Motorsports	Honda Civic Type R	1	1:30.372	+1.222
6	9	Sam Hirani	Firecruiser Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R	1	1:30.348	+1.333
7	23	Alex Odell	POWA	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	1:30.661	+1.511
8	45	PJ Tierney	Goteki House	Honda Civic Type R	1	1:30.743	+1.593
9	959	Ben Cooper	B13 Racing	Honda Civic Type R	1	1:30.970	+1.820
10	6	Kirky56	CJK Racing	Honda Civic Type R	2	1:31.174	+2.024
11	777	Ben Haddleton	Firecruiser Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R	1	1:31.331	+2.181
12	149	Dave Morley	Monolith Motorsport	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	1	1:32.010	+2.860
13	17	Jay Cooper	Jayvoury Racing	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	1:32.041	+2.891
14	85	Matt Davies	PSP Motorsports	Honda Civic Type R	2	1:32.249	+3.099
15	203	ZeroxDeathAngel	B13 Racing	Honda Civic Type R	2	1:32.324	+3.174
16	30	Connell	TK GP	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	1:33.744	+4.594
17	3	Noel Slevin	Forza Noelinho	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	1:33.970	+4.820
18	5	Tom Collantine	ATTK Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R	2	1:37.102	+7.952
19	71	Pete Walker	POWA	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	1:30.334	+1.184
20	33	Tom Bellingham	The Indypendables	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	1:30.945	+1.795
21	78	James Price-Harper	CLM	Honda Civic Type R	2	1:33.719	+4.569
22	04	Ian Aldridge	Shout-E-Motoring	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	1:34.224	+5.074

Times in italics indicate a dirty lap time

Race Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Car	Lobby	Time/Retired	Points
1	55	Adam Smith	Black Raptors	Honda Civic Type R	1	23:51.167	25
2	7	Lee Harrison	Goteki House	Honda Civic Type R	2	+6.904	21
3	802	Dan Thorn	The Indypendables	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	1	+8.960	18
4	23	Alex Odell	POWA	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+12.009	16
5	11	Liam Blair	BLAIR|one	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	1	+15.013	14
6	75	Niall O'Connell	PSP Motorsports	Honda Civic Type R	1	+16.898	12
7	9	Sam Hirani	Firecruiser Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R	1	+18.233	10
8	45	PJ Tierney	Goteki House	Honda Civic Type R	1	+24.333	9
9	71	Pete Walker	POWA	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+27.218	8
10	17	Jay Cooper	Jayvoury Racing	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+27.964	7
11	6	Kirky56	CJK Racing	Honda Civic Type R	2	+33.035	6
12	959	Ben Cooper	B13 Racing	Honda Civic Type R	1	+39.832	5
13	85	Matt Davies	PSP Motorsports	Honda Civic Type R	2	+42.782	4
14	149	Dave Morley	Monolith Motorsport	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	1	+44.070	3
15	203	ZeroxDeathAngel	B13 Racing	Honda Civic Type R	2	+50.745	2
16	5	Tom Collantine	ATTK Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R	2	+51.072	1
17	777	Ben Haddleton	Firecruiser Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R	1	+51.851
18	33	Tom Bellingham	The Indypendables	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+56.466
19	3	Noel Slevin	Forza Noelinho	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+1:11.769
20	78	James Price-Harper	CLM	Honda Civic Type R	2	+1:18.384
21	04	Ian Aldridge	Shout-E-Motoring	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+1:18.567
22	30	Connell	TK GP	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+1:29.099

Image Gallery

Event 1 Big Shot - the field rounds the hairpin on the first lap.			Lobby 1 get the Nihon Tour underway
Lobby 2 approach 130R for the first time	The second corner was always going to be tricky	Crowding at the Hairpin	Rookies... rookies everywhere
Ajokay loses his lead to Flobadob on the second lap	Dan passes Blairy on the first lap but can do nothing about eventual winner Smifaye	Smifaye leads Dan through Degner 1	ZeroxDeathAngel used Dig!
It's super effective!	Not him again!

Round 2 - Sprint Race

Round 2 - Sprint Race
West Circuit
Distance	10 laps	21.5 miles
Fastest Lap
Driver/Team	Pete Walker	POWA
Time	1:29.466
Podium
First	Sam Hirani	Firecruiser Racing Team
Second	Tom Bellingham	The Indypendables
Third	Liam Blair	BLAIR|one

Race Summary

The grid was determined by reverse results order which really benefited some drivers. At one point in Lobby 1 drivers were 5 wide and surprisingly no one died! Fantastic driving was seen throughout the field.

Smifaye and PJ made there way through the field together but could not quite get close enough to Dan Thorn who had made the most of the first few laps. It was Kimster though who led the field from Tommy in Lobby 2. Kimster held on to take his first ever Forza win. Fastest lap went to Bookoi.

• Indypendables 100th race*

Race Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Car	Lobby	Time/Retired	Points
1	9	Sam Hirani	Firecruiser Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R	1	15:06.761	25
2	33	Tom Bellingham	The Indypendables	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+3.699	21
3	11	Liam Blair	BLAIR|one	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	1	+6.681	18
4	71	Pete Walker	POWA	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+7.655	16
5	802	Dan Thorn	The Indypendables	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	1	+7.934	14
6	55	Adam Smith	Black Raptors	Honda Civic Type R	1	+8.405	12
7	45	PJ Tierney	Goteki House	Honda Civic Type R	1	+8.862	10
8	75	Niall O'Connell	PSP Motorsports	Honda Civic Type R	1	+9.972	9
9	23	Alex Odell	POWA	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+15.542	8
10	17	Jay Cooper	Jayvoury Racing	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+16.258	7
11	149	Dave Morley	Monolith Motorsport	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	1	+19.705	6
12	6	Kirky56	CJK Racing	Honda Civic Type R	2	+21.531	5
13	7	Lee Harrison	Goteki House	Honda Civic Type R	2	+21.664	4
14	959	Ben Cooper	B13 Racing	Honda Civic Type R	1	+23.824	3
15	78	James Price-Harper	CLM	Honda Civic Type R	2	+24.316	2
16	203	ZeroxDeathAngel	B13 Racing	Honda Civic Type R	2	+24.588	1
17	777	Ben Haddleton	Firecruiser Racing Team	Honda Civic Type R	1	+25.508
18	85	Matt Davies	PSP Motorsports	Honda Civic Type R	2	+30.065
19	3	Noel Slevin	Forza Noelinho	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+32.754
20	5	Tom Collantine	ATTK Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R	2	+33.024†
21	04	Ian Aldridge	Shout-E-Motoring	Hyundai Veloster Turbo	2	+34.025
22	30	Connell	TK GP	Honda Civic Type R	2	+51.477

^{† Includes 8 second penalty for DimensioN Flip on lap three}

Image Gallery

Dan celebrates the Indypendables 100th race by being sideways	Five cars, one piece of track. Somehow, no one died...	...and Dan took four places in one corner on his way to fifth overall	Smifaye and PJ catching up with the rest of the field.
TommyB lead Lobby 2 from turn one to the finish	All aboard the Mr E train!	nOc75 managed to jump 3 places in one corner.	Blairy manages to finish on the podium in his second race.

Clio Cup Round 1

Clio Cup Round 1
West Circuit
Distance	9 laps	19.35 miles
Fastest Lap
Driver/Team	Adam Smith	Black Raptors
Time	1:33.453
Podium
First	Adam Smith	Black Raptors
Second	Alex Odell	Ajokay Motorsport
Third	Lee Harrison	Goteki House

Race Summary

The second ever running of an RRR support series saw the drivers take control of the Renault Sport Clio V6 machine and boy was it difficult to control. Points for the support series go down to 20th place so lots was up for grabs. It was the usual suspects at the front with Smifaye leading the way. Blairy surprised people by not transferring his pace from the Nihon Tour cars to the Clios. He was running in the midfield for much of the race and ended in 11th place.

Icthyes made his racing return and was running in 1st place for a couple of laps. Don Mateo was having a good race and showing some good speed battling to get into the top 10. Ajokay was leading Lobby 2 and was unsure of how quick the leading driver was in Lobby 1. The Ajokay Motorsport driver narrowly missed out on the win by 2.020 seconds with Smifaye taking the win and fastest lap.

Race Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Lobby	Time/Retired	Points
1	55	Adam Smith	Black Raptors	1	14:27.556	30
2	23	Alex Odell	Ajokay Motorsport	2	+2.020	27
3	7	Lee Harrison	Goteki House	2	+10.421	24
4	45	PJ Tierney	Goteki House	1	+12.374	22
5	9	Sam Hirani	Firecruiser Racing Team	1	+12.634	20
6	802	Dan Thorn	Kernowsport	1	+14.464	18
7	33	Tom Bellingham	Peachy-Bee Grand Pree	2	+17.752	16
8	75	Niall O'Connell	Westlander Racing	1	+18.934	14
9	71	Pete Walker	JemTech Racing	2	+23.667	12
10	12	Niko Gouloumis	SpyroTechnimata	1	+25.664	11
11	11	Liam Blair	BLAIR|one	1	+27.293	10
12	85	Matt Davies	Team Diablo	2	+27.731	9
13	17	Jay Cooper	Jayvoury Racing	2	+28.182	8
14	3	Noel Slevin	Forza Noelinho	2	+30.160	7
15	149	Dave Morley	Monolith Motorsport	1	+31.456	6
16	777	Ben Haddleton	Firecruiser Racing Team	1	+34.729	5
17	203	ZeroxDeathAngel	B13 Racing	2	+35.629	4
18	6	Kirky56	CJK Racing	2	+36.298	3
19	78	James Price-Harper	CLM	2	+38.611	2
20	5	Tom Collantine	ATTK Motorsport	2	+44.434	1
21	04	Ian Aldridge	Shout-E-Motoring	2	+51.202
22	959	Ben Cooper	B13 Racing	1	+1:04.360
23	30	Connell	TK GP	2	+1:15.178

Image Gallery

Dan and PJ scrapped hard early on with the Goteki driver eventually coming out on top	PJ also battled hard with newcomer Blairy in the opening stages	The late SpyroTechnimata entry put on a show for the crowds	nOc75 led for the 1st part of the race, till an unfortunate incident cost him several places.
File:.jpg Caption	File:.jpg Caption	File:.jpg Caption	File:.jpg Caption

Championship Positions after the Event

Drivers' Championship Pos Driver Points 1 Adam Smith 37 2 Sam Hirani 35 3 Dan Thorn 32 = Liam Blair 32 5 Lee Harrison 26

Teams' Championship Pos Team Points 1 The Indypendables 53 2 POWA 48 3 Goteki House 44 4 Black Raptors 37 5 Firecruiser Racing Team 35

Manufacturers' Championship Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Hyundai Veloster Turbo 140 2 Honda Civic Type R 138

Clio Cup Pos Driver Points 1 Adam Smith 30 2 Alex Odell 27 3 Lee Harrison 24 4 PJ Tierney 22 5 Sam Hirani 20