Victoria Pre-Race Thread

[Cynon]

Maximus Not Racing to Australia -- Plans to Sell Entries for Australian Tour

Backmarker outfit Maximus Racing announced that they would not be running either of the two Australian races, but said that they were working out a deal to sell their entries for the two Australian rounds.

"Our participation in those races hinged on us getting a car into Indianapolis." team owner Max Gorlinski said after a media interview.
"We might have been able to run both cars if we had enough sponsorship for them, but unfortunately that time frame has come and gone."

Maximus Racing, becoming known for its purple cars, has struggled for most of the season with an evolution of a 2 year old Gasnier car in much the same spirit of Lynxe Racing. However, unlike Lynxe Racing, Maximus has not had the same level of success and has had to rely on sponsored drivers for much of the season. Gorlinski said he would not contest the wishes of either driver to compete in the Australian rounds with other teams.

"If Dan [Mackay] and Azuma [Kazeyama] can find a ride for those races, they have my blessing to take it."

Gorlinski made it clear that he was not intending to close shop, and that he would be in Australia to support the series, even though he would not participate as a competitor.

"I'll be there, so will some of our guys, doing what we can to support the series when we can. We're not closing shop, we've got a deal for Gravis City and South America all lined up, but we can't let everyone know yet."

[Cynon]

First Practice Results

1 9 A Kekkonen 23.254
2 5 L Soveral 23.278
3 2 M Clevenot 23.279
4 7 A Devereux 23.299
5 55 Z Ashby 23.304
6 16 K Plissken 23.305
7 4 L Roderick 23.319
8 88 S Bates 23.322
9 3 A Rossini 23.330
10 8 K Dwyer 23.350
11 6 J Kard -R- 23.356
12 60 G de Sousa 23.367
13 11 D Henton 23.391
14 14 C Roqueta -R- 23.410
15 13 S Steudler 23.434
16 41 G Woodard 23.435
17 84 C Davenport 23.437
18 12 C Johaanes 23.460
19 10 Y Nosova 23.468
20 777 I Cooper 23.495
21 28 H Percy -RI- 23.542
22 341 J Dempsey -R- 23.568
23 47 D Leckliter -I- 23.569
24 15 Y Kuznetsov 23.571
25 52 R Scott -RI- 23.574
26 74 A Andersson 23.575
27 18 P Carroll 23.590
28 216 R Jones 23.592
29 17 L Kingston 23.593
30 29 J Dilks -RI- 23.599
31 23 J Olenick -R- 23.618
32 19 T Moore 23.661
33 26 C Taylor 23.684
34 39 K Reynolds 23.692
35 21 M Taube 23.704
36 42 B Voeckler 23.707
37 67 D Melrose 23.724
38 22 P Short 23.731
39 50 B Atkins 23.741
40 180 A Purcell 24.045
41 360 A Bridges 24.230

No Time: 97 D Johnson

[Jonny683]

Jon Dilks stepped out of the car, grabbed a bottle of Slice Lime soda, and drank, as he smiled soon afterwards, "MAN! It's good to be in the grid! And I'm not last! Sweet!" He said. "I wanna thank Texaco, for giving me this opportunity, and thank you to Slice, for sponsoring this car. GRAB A SLICE AND ENJOY LIFE! SLICE SODA!" He went, as people laughed around him.

[Cynon]

(OOC: This race was recorded on Sunday)

Velocity Motorsports Has Eventful Final Practice

Mitchell & Sons Racing driver Chris Davenport has had an eventful season so far. A man with a history of practice collisions, Davenport's list extended after a collision with Australian rookie Ash Bridges in final practice for the Round of Victoria.

Davenport appeared to close on Bridges very quickly and then dive for the apron in turn 3. Bridges squeezed the Californian onto the apron throughout turn 4 and the tri-oval. With nowhere else to go, Davenport shot up into Bridges in the first turn and sent both into the outside wall. Both drove away.

"That guy's an asshole. That's all there is to say." Davenport said afterwards.

"I guess Christine doesn't know what patience is. Maybe if he stopped being a wanker every time I saw his face on the telly he'd do something other than test the safety features these cars have." Bridges scoffed.
"I guess it's good that the Americans are as serious as they are about driver safety on tracks like this."

Neither Davenport nor Bridges' teams got approval to go to backup cars.

Bridges's Velocity Motorsports teammate, Australian touring car star Adam Purcell, also had a bit of a practice scare after he blew a tire in front of debutante Mason Yokoyama.

"Want to apologize to the 97 car, I promise I'll buy the driver replacements for the skidmarks in his pants." Purcell said.
"I know those guys don't have a backup car so I didn't want to tear theirs up."

Yokoyama was drafted to replace Johnson after second practice. In less than 15 laps without any major setup changes, Yokoyama was able to go almost 2 seconds faster than what Johnson was able to achieve. Johnson was reportedly 5 or 6 seconds off the pace, sparking rumors that TM Master Cup officials asked Yokoyama to race instead of Johnson.

Despite this strong effort from Yokoyama, he was still slowest in final practice.

[RaceCamera]

Yokoyama accepts Purcell's apology

After Adam Purcell blew his tire in front of Mason Yokoyama, he later apologized to him. "Apology accepted." said Yokoyama  "This can happen in racing when someone blew a tire and you have nowhere to go."

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