LunatiK ARL GT Championship S5 : Race 6 Hockenheim

Another Sunday came and went as the Wave Italy Apex Racing League GT Championship Season 5 returned to Hockenheim this week. A German circuit that features a very long straight into a hairpin that is one of the prime overtaking spots on track. The race saw David Bush and Collin McKenzie tackle the first 25 minute sprint race while Nick Mathews joined the two for the 40 minute feature following. McKenzie showed great pace in his Ford GTE during practice but was not able to replicate it in qualifying which led to a P22 start for him. David Bush who also struggled a bit in qualifying started two positions behind in P24. Formation lap was under way and lights went green as the field started towards a quick turn one. A fairly safe turn one led to most of the field still intact heading into another hairpin that can be used for overtaking as well. This is where we started to see some deaths occur in the field. Multiple cars lost control giving up positions to the rest of the field coming through. As they headed down the long straight the track started to look like a mine field with cars losing control everywhere. McKenzie and Bush made it through the carnage clean and headed towards the tight hairpin. Another onslaught of flying gt cars ensued but luckily both LunatiK drivers made it through. Heading into lap 2 the race started to calm down and settle in. McKenzie finished P15 4th in the AM class with Bush three spots behind in P18. 

Nick Mathews joined the team heading into the 40 minute feature race. With the reverse grid this week Bush found himself starting in P3 and McKenzie in P7. Mathews would be starting the the back of the field as he did not set a time in the sprint race prior. Unfortunately the starting positions for Bush and McKenzie did not help their race. As the field came around the last turn the lights went green with Bush getting off to a good start and McKenzie having issues putting the power down on his Ford. Heading into turn 1 Bush made contact with another car which caused him to spin coming out of turn 1 right off the racing line to the right. McKenzie who had trouble putting the power down coming out of the corner tried to defend an inside move by Steve Burke of Team Lizard Motorsports heading into the first turn. Burke did not give in and ended up making net code contact with McKenzie which unsettled his car. This cause his car to lock up and make contact with another driver on the outside. With Bush still parked right off the racing line waiting for the remainder of the field to get through before moving multiple cars had to dodge him. Tom Brown of INDY Autosport went wide to the right to avoid contact and unfortunately got loose causing his car to make a 90 degree left hand turn back into the field coming through. With McKenzie making contact with another car this put him into a compromised position trying to regain speed as the remainder of the field was coming behind him. Brown coming back onto track made vicious contact with McKenzie which sent him right into the wall off to the left of the track. The force McKenzie went into the wall caused him Ford to bounce off the wall and go airborne back onto the track into oncoming traffic. This caused a massive pile up to ensue to start the second race. Mathews ended up making it out alive heading into the long straight. A lack luster race after the incident saw McKenzie spin a couple of times which caused him to drop places. Bush finished in 17th followed by Mathews in 22nd and McKenzie in 28th. 

The team looks to regroup next weekend August 8th at the Temple of Speed, Monza. More pictures and up to date standings can be found on Apex Racing League’s Website here.