Formula 1970 2 – THRacing

Sirén leads throughout and joins Masse at the top

Kasperi Sirén won the second Championship round from pole position, leading all 40 laps while the fight behind him shaped the podium. He and Florian Masse now share the points lead.

A lead held from the start

Kasperi Sirén gave his rivals no lap on which to take command. Starting from pole in the Formula RSS 1970 V8, he led at the completion of each of the 40 laps and took his first victory of this Championship. He also set the fastest lap, a 1:31.401, just 0.058 seconds quicker than Florian Masse's best. There was little to separate their outright pace, even if Sirén held the race lead throughout.

That distinction mattered in a field of 19 drivers all using the same car. For nine laps early in the race, Sirén, Masse, Drik Crozet and Simone Porcu ran within five seconds of one another. Sirén remained in front of that group, but the places behind him were still to be settled.

Image contributed by Drik Crozet

The places behind the leader

Crozet and Porcu supplied the closest sustained contest among the leading four. They ran within two seconds of each other for much of the opening phase, with Porcu ahead until Crozet moved in front by the end of lap 11. The pair remained close for several more laps before Crozet secured third place and Porcu took fourth.

Masse, meanwhile, held on to second ahead of Crozet. He had arrived as the Championship leader and as winner of the opening round, and his race here was hardly a surrender of that position. Sirén had the victory and the fastest lap, but Masse completed the full distance in second, with Crozet completing the podium.

Rebessi comes through

Further back, Stefano Robert Rebessi made the most conspicuous advance. From 24th on the starting grid, he was already 18th after the first lap. His progress continued over the full 40-lap distance, and he finished eighth. Six places gained in the opening lap did not account for the whole journey; Rebessi kept moving up as the race developed.

It was an appreciable result in a race whose leading order had offered few openings to Sirén's pursuers. Rebessi's climb provided a different measure of how much position could still be won beyond the front group.

A shared Championship lead

Sirén came to this second round sixth in the Championship and leaves it level with Masse at the head of the table, each on 40 points. The rule that sets aside one result per driver currently leaves Sirén's victory as his scoring result, while Masse's opening-round victory remains his. Thus Masse's second place did not increase his points total, though it kept him alongside the new race winner.

Four of the six rounds remain. Sirén has established himself as a winner and drawn level with the driver who led coming in; Masse has answered a race spent behind him with another place on the podium.

The result leaves the early Championship with two distinct claims at its head: Masse's opening victory and Sirén's uninterrupted lead here. The next round will test which of them can carry that form beyond a single afternoon.

Masse Takes Mexico Opener After Porcu’s Fall from the Lead

Florian Masse won the first round of the Championship at MEX - F1 1970 - R1 - Mexico, assuming command when Simone Porcu's promising race unravelled at half-distance. Willphaizer and FMG completed a closely contested podium.

A lead lost at Espiral

The new Championship began with a full field of 25 Formula RSS 1970 V8 cars and a race whose early order offered little permanence. FMG had started from pole, but by the end of the opening lap Simone Porcu was in front, with the pole-sitter third. Porcu retained the advantage through the opening exchanges, while Florian Masse, FMG and Willphaizer formed a compact leading group from lap 3 to lap 17.

It was Porcu's race to lose until the thirteenth lap. An incident at Espiral dropped him from first to twentieth, and Masse emerged as the new leader. Thereafter the Frenchman made the position his own, completing all 36 laps to win the Championship opener. Porcu's final classification of twelfth gave scant indication of the authority with which he had controlled the first third of the afternoon.

I had a great close fight with Flashor. Thanks mate! - Image contributed by pitman

The podium contest

Behind the changing leader, FMG and Willphaizer remained central figures in the front-running contest. Along with Masse, they had run within five seconds of one another for fifteen successive laps in the early and middle portions of the race, a sufficiently close formation to ensure that Porcu's misfortune did not make the result a foregone conclusion.

Willphaizer brought his car home second, three points behind Masse in the first table of the season. FMG, who had begun from pole and was still second late in the race, slipped to third on lap 27 after incidents at Espiral. He nevertheless reached the flag to preserve a podium which reflected his pace over the greater part of the distance. Drik Crozet was fourth and David Czemmel fifth, both completing the full 36 laps.

Sirén's long return

Kasperi Sirén supplied the afternoon's most striking recovery. He had been second at the end of lap 2, only to fall to twenty-fourth on lap 3 following an incident at Peraltada. From there he worked steadily back through the field, and his eventual sixth place was a considerable return from a position which might easily have ended his afternoon.

The Finn's speed was beyond question. His 1:41.305 was the fastest lap of the race, only a little over five-hundredths quicker than Masse's best effort. That combination of the fastest lap and a sixteenth-place-to-sixth recovery lent particular substance to Sirén's points haul, even if the first result of a long Championship can settle nothing by itself.

Progress through the field

Fabien Lauzet also made a substantial advance, rising from seventeenth on the grid to finish seventh. Stefano Bucci was eighth and Stefano Robert Rebessi ninth, while Davide Ricciardi completed the top ten after a late contest with Rebessi that changed order several times. Rebessi reclaimed ninth on the final lap.

Czemmel's fifth position had been earned amid an earlier, sustained contest with Andrew. The pair exchanged the advantage more than once in the first dozen laps, before Andrew later lost ground after incidents on lap 27. Czemmel thus joined the leading six as one of the men to have completed the full distance.

Masse leaves MEX - F1 1970 - R1 - Mexico with 40 points and the first Championship lead, Willphaizer on 37 and FMG on 34. It is only the opening entry in a six-race campaign, but the afternoon established a useful first impression: the front of the field is closely matched, and a moment's disorder can alter the complexion of a race completely.

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