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VWSC 1971 – 100 Minutes of Brands Hatch

VWSC 1971 Brands Hatch poster.

Race Report by Matthew Overton & George Angelidis
Images by Jerry Chen
Broadcast by Ross “Tnadz” Smith

April 3, 2021 – Southeast England provided a beautiful race weekend for the 4th round of the CMS VWSC ‘71 Championship, much to the delight of the drivers and crews. On the deceptively simple Brands Hatch GP circuit, the drivers, in particular, were relieved to be pitted only against each other rather than a wet track!

A total of 20 drivers presented themselves for the briefing for the marshals, with all the levels of competition well represented. After the practice sessions, it was on to qualifying, where Ahmed Abdalla (Purist) in his Ferrari 512M took top honors with a 1:21.132, ahead of Marouane el Idrissi (Pro) and Wouter de Bruijn (Pro) in another Ferrari and Porsche 917K respectively. Setting the pace in Am was Leone Gennari […]

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NARS Virtual DTM Championship – Round 8 at Hockenheimring

The start at NARS VDTMC Hockenheimring

Race Report by Matthew Overton
Images by Jerry Chen
Broadcast by Ross “Tnadz” Smith

Another beautiful week and another weekend of off-and-on-again weather that is so typical of Europe in the spring. 21 drivers (11 PRO and 10 AM), including a late PRO series entry, Juan Salas Morales, assembled in the paddock for the race weekend, guaranteeing great action for the penultimate race of the season.

Qualifying

Spring delivered the required dose of rain during the final practice, but the generally warm weather and steady breezes meant that by the start of qualifying, the conditions were almost ideal, giving over to a number of PBs as the drivers jostled for their starting positions. Once again, PRO Ahmed Abdalla seized pole position with both hands, laying down a 1:31.849, over a half-second ahead of Daniel Kirby. In AM, Matthew Overton’s 1:33.499 placed him […]

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NARS Virtual DTM Championship – Round 7 at TT Assen

TT-Assen-NARS-VDTMC-1

Race Report by Matthew Overton
Images by Jerry Chen
Broadcast by Ross “Tnadz” Smith

March 25, 2021 – It was a thankfully short trip for the drivers and teams as they left Austria for the Nederlands and the city of Assen to prepare for the next round of the CMS NARS VDTM Championship. With only 3 races left and the series wins for both PRO and AM virtually locked, there was still much to race for in the battles for the remaining podium positions.

And so it was 19 drivers (9 PRO and 10 AM) enjoying the Dutch hospitality and working to further refine the tuning of their cars in preparation for their race at a venue more renowned for the MotoGP than motorcar racing. While during the week, the practice conditions were bright and dry, by the weekend itself, spring had reasserted herself with a […]

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NARS Virtual DTM Championship – Round 6 at Red Bull Ring

ROUND 6 Red Bull Ring - Rainy

Race Report by Matthew Overton
Images by Jerry Chen and Danny Corriveau
Broadcast by Ross “Tnadz” Smith

March 18, 2021 – Austria, in particular the lovely area of Styria, was the 6th of 9 stops for the drivers and crews of the NARS VDTMC. The Red Bull Ring was the venue and there was great anticipation for a high-speed contest along the long straights of this storied course.

21 drivers (10 PRO and 11 AM) completed the weekend of racing, much to the delight of the few fans permitted at the venue as well as the record crowd watching remotely. With periods of rain punctuating the practices, the odds were high that the drivers would be very lucky indeed to avoid a wet track for two weekends in a row.

A notable absence from the initial practices was PRO driver Ahmed […]

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NARS Modern Sportscar Championship – Round 3 at Sebring 1.2

Race Report by Matthew Overton
Image by Jerry Chen
Broadcast by Ross “Tnadz” Smith

NARS-Sebring-VMSC-1

March 11, 2021 – No rest for the drivers and teams of the VMSC as it was back to Sebring for the third round of the series. Like Daytona, the race would feature both day and night driving as the drivers fought the bone-shaking and suspension-breaking surface of this historic track. Despite some concerns over the weather in the lead-up to the race, the furrowed brows disappeared as quickly as the clouds with the drivers enjoying the cooler temperatures that stood in contrast to the very hot racing that they delivered.

22 drivers raced over the weekend (7 LMH and 15 GTE) with the biggest news being the entry of CMS CEO David Anderson in the GTE AM class, driving a Ferrari 488 that had been provided and prepped at short notice […]

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VWSC 1971 – 1.2 Hours of Sebring

Sebring-1.2

Race Report by George Angelidis
Images by Jerry Chen
Broadcast by Ross “Tnadz” Smith

March 6, 2021 – On a rain-soaked day at Sebring, Ben Boorman almost pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the historic era of sports car racing, in his Rookie Monsters Porsche 917K car to the overall win at the 1.2 Hours of Sebring. He ultimately finished 2nd coming from dead last some mere 30 secs of winner Ahmed Abdalla, who marked his first win VWSC in 1971 and Scuderia Cavalli Ferrari’s maiden victory.

The weather-plagued race played into the advantage of the German car, which took five of the top 10 finishing positions overall, and remarkably majority being Purist entries, typically splitting the top of the field with the Pro class.

S 5.0 – Purist

Ben Boorman with his Porsche 917K, endured through a near-record 70% wet race duration (the longest in […]

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NARS Virtual DTM Championship – Round 5 at Nurburgring

Race Report by Matthew Overton
Images by Jerry Chen
Broadcast by Ross “Tnadz” Smith

March 4, 2021 – It was a return to Germany once again for the VDTMC teams with a pilgrimage to one of the most imposing and storied circuits of Europe – the Nurburgring. And while perhaps best known for the longer layouts, including those used for F1 and the 24-hour endurance races, for the VDTMC it was to be the Sprint layout that would be waiting to test their mettle.

19 drivers (8 PRO and 11 AM) with their supporting teams gathered at the paddock for what turned out to be one of the most hotly contested races of the season to date. With the weather difficulties still fresh in the minds of the teams, preparations for rain were very obviously in hand but as the weekend rolled out the threatening nature […]

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NARS Virtual DTM Championship – Round 4 at Zolder

NARS VIRTUAL DTM CHAMPIONSHIP REPORT - ROUND 4 Zolder

Race Report by Matthew Overton
Image by Jerry Chen
Broadcast by Ross “Tnadz” Smith

A wet week with plenty of rain provided real challenges for the drivers of the NARS VDTMC as they prepared for their next challenge at Zolder. Teams and drivers both struggled with the constantly changing conditions and the difficulties of managing undulating terrain and constant chicanes in addition to the sweeping high-speed curves of this iconic Belgian track. 22 drivers were present for the race weekend, including PRO newcomer Edgar Cruz as well as AM recruits Pedro Gomes and Morgan McCalister.

Qualifying

Come qualifying, a welcome relief from the rain allowed the drivers to put down some seriously fast times. PRO driver Ahmed Abdallah proved that he was the man to beat, setting a time that at 1:23.474 was .8s clear of JT Tami. PRO […]

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NARS Modern Sportscar Championship – Round 2 at Twin Ring Motegi

Race Report by Matthew Overton
Image by Jerry Chen
Broadcast by Ross “Tnadz” Smith

NARS Modern Sportscar Championship - Round 2 at Twin Ring Motegi

February 18, 2021 – For the second round of the Virtual Modern Sportscar Series, the drivers and their support teams made the round-world trip from Florida to meet the rising sun in Japan to test themselves against the Motegi circuit in the Tochigi Prefecture.

Conditions were almost ideal throughout the weekend, with all the visitors remarking on the excellent facilities and the support they received from the local organizing committee. Enjoying the weekend most fully was the Ferrari factory delegation, hosted to the event by their Nissan colleagues who were to be disappointed by the results of the race at their ‘home’ track.

While not every driver was able to make the long trip – with Daytona LMH AM winner Jose Florez and […]

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VWSC 2021 – 60 Minutes of Twin Ring Motegi

VWSC 2021 – 60 Minutes of Twin Ring Motegi

Race Report by George Angelidis & Matthew Overton
Images by Jerry Chen
Broadcast by Ross “Tnadz” Smith

February 20, 2021 – It was truly a day for the partisans of the Rising Sun with Nissan getting a full return on the effort they put into attracting and staging Round 2 of the VWSC ‘21 Championship at their ‘home’ track.

A total of 30 cars and drivers arrived early in the week to complete testing and preparations for the weekend. It was clear that many teams had been hard at work during the break since Daytona, though not all were able to put past difficulties behind them, as the race was to show.

Qualifying

LMH-Pro Storm Rider Racing driver Ahmed Abdallah set the pace with his Nissan by grabbing pole ahead of LMH-Pro contender driver Marouane el Idrissi and his Triploski […]

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NARS – VTDMC Round 3 at Lausitzring

Race Report by Matthew Overton
Image by Jerry Chen
Broadcast by Ross “Tnadz” Smith

February 11, 2021 – This week, the drivers of the NARS VDTMC made the pilgrimage to the European center of automotive testing, the DEKRA facility at Lausitz, to show their manufacturers how well they could extract performance from their cars on a track the manufacturers themselves know so very well.

The weather, while generally overcast, in the end, provided excellent conditions for the race, which saw plenty of action from the 8 PRO and 11 AM drivers that lined up on the starting grid.

While a number of drivers opted to skip this stop, the field welcomed warmly four new drivers to grid – familiar face Tony Boynton and NARS newcomers John Maher, Chris Cox, and Cedric Collins, all in the AM category.

Qualifying

Qualifying was intense, with some great times being set during the […]

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VWSC 2021 – 2.4 Hours of Daytona

Race Report by George Angelidis

January 24, 2021 – After New Year’s every sportscar fan in the world is waiting for Daytona. The twice around the clock endurance race traditionally held at the last weekend of January is for many of us the start of the racing season. With its high speeds and high banks, it’s a spectacle on its own. The sun may rise at Daytona in the United States, but it was the machine from the Rising Sun country where the day belonged. Nissan finished 1-2 in LMH-Pro and 1-2-3 in LMH-Am dominating the first race of this new era of hypercar sportscar racing.

In GTE 2 teams dominated their classes respectively: the CMS Pro Ferrari and the Trash Panda Racing Aston Martin.

LMH-Pro

Ahmed Abdalla took the win in LMH-Pro class and overall, shifting from his dominant GTE-Pro performances from last year. While […]

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NARS Modern Sportscar Championship – Round 1 at Daytona 2.4

Race Report by Matthew Overton
Photo by Jerry Chen
Broadcast by Ross Smith

January 21, 2021 – The thunder was heard loud and clear last night at Daytona as the Hypercars and GTEs of the VMSC took to the track for the first of twelve rounds of action.

LMH PRO

Weather conditions were almost perfect and provided a stunning backdrop for the landmark victory of Ferrari FXX driver George Angelidis, who scored his maiden win at CMS with a commanding performance in the LMH PRO class.

Lacking only the fastest lap and leadership of 5 race laps that fell to others while he was being serviced in the pits to complete a sweep of the race, it was nevertheless a long-held dream come true for the veteran CMS driver.

Against a strong field in the class that included Brian Hall (2nd), Norm Graf (3rd), JT Tami, and, in a […]

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NARS Virtual DTM – Round 1 at Monza

Race Report by Matthew Overton

January 14, 2021 – It was a dreary day that greeted the teams assembled at the cathedral of speed for the opening round of the 2021 NARS Virtual DTM Championship at CMS.

23 drivers, PRO and AM took to the track, all three manufacturers well represented with Aura clearly the steed of choice.

NARS DTM at Monza

Difficult Weather

Light but steady rain during the practice morning raised significant concerns that weather would play a major role in the race, but by the time qualifying had arrived, the rain had lifted although the track remained damp due to the slow drying conditions.

JT Tami pipped Ahmed Abdalla at the last moment to take the pole as the drivers struggled with the conditions and the optimal tire choice. While all the drivers were successful in setting a qualifying lap, the range of times recorded […]

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NARS 80 Minutes of Bahrain & Season End Report

Race Report by Matthew Overton

December 7, 2020 – A warm and very comfortable Bahrain late afternoon was the setting for the final round of the NARS VWSC Championship with almost ideal conditions for the 18 drivers and crews that made the trip to the Kingdom on the Persian Gulf.

And they wasted no time in getting down to business, with some scintillating qualifying laps to set the stage for the championship battles to come over the last 80 minutes of racing in the season.

LMP2

Within the LMP2 field of 7 cars, JT Tami took top honors with a blistering 1:46.411, .3s ahead of second-place Jason Whited with Colin Moore .2s further back.

Ahmed Abdalla continued his fine qualifying form, topping the GTE field with a 1:57.196, less than a tenth of a second ahead of Hank Sun with George Angelidis only slightly further back.

It was […]

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NARS BTCC Final Round Brands Hatch Indy

Race Report by Matthew Overton

BTCC Series Finale

November 19, 2020 – Another bright and sunny day greeted the drivers and their crews as they returned to Brands Hatch for the culminating round of the CMS NARS BTCC series.  With tight battles still to be decided in both the PRO and AM classes, spirits were running high for the last two races of the series on the Indy layout, promising fast, wide-open racing for the fans.

Rich Hibbs took top honors in qualifying and it proved to be a race-winning advantage as he led from flag to flag in Race 1. Behind him, Jason Whited, Eduardo Beninca, and a hard-charging Norm Graf battled throughout the race with the four cars separated by less than 4 seconds up to lap 22.

For much of the remainder of the field, however, chaos in the opening seconds meant that much of the race was spent working to […]

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NARS BTCC Round 8 at Snetterton

Race Report and Photo by Matthew Overton

November 12, 2020 – At long last, the fabled English weather fulfilled its promise, providing a wet and dreary day for Round 8 of the NARS BTCC championship. Rather than dampening the racing spirit of the 14 drivers that made their way to Norfolk for the races, it inspired some additional sharpening to their racecraft as both races provided for some amazing close-quarter runs.

Rich Hibbs proved to be the strongest in qualifying with a magic lap that was fully 2s ahead of his nearest rival, Frank Radosti.

The magic had all but disappeared however by the time the first lap was complete with the polesitter dropping to P7. Eduardo Beninca and Colin Moore were the principal beneficiaries of errors in the opening lap that saw Radosti and JT Tami get caught up together with difficulties in the racing conditions. Hibbs continued to struggle – potentially […]

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CMS VWSC – WSC Round 9: 1.2 Hours of Sebring

Race Report by George Angelidis
Images by Jerry Chen

VWSC 1.2 Hours of Sebring – now you rain, now you don’t

November 7, 2020

  • Bykolles Racing clinches LMP2 Championship
  • Bob Roberson becomes the oldest CMS class champion (LMPC) at 82 years old!!!
  • Sansano gets a post-race 2-grid place penalty gifting Marouane el Idrissi first season win

Crossing the line at Sebring. Crossing the line at Sebring.

Rain HAS ARRIVED! For the first time in the season, we got some rain for VWSC 1.2 Hrs of Sebring, producing some nail-biting racing and a share of randomness due to on the fly strategies…

The race was showing early on to be anything but usual with having a shower 5 minutes before qualifying. People that got on track first got the most out of it since, for most, the first lap was their best. Jason Whited and Cameron Sansano were the […]

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NARS BTCC Croft

Race Report by Matthew Overton

October 15, 2020 – It was a surprisingly dry ‘weekend’ at Croft for the 7th stop on the NARS BTCC series.

Race 1 featured a strong battle between Eduardo Beninca and Rich Hibbs, with Hibbs overtaking the polesitter on Lap 8 and never looking back. One lap later, Jon Uyan lost 3rd to a charging George Angelidis, who held onto the final podium spot against a strong challenge by Colin Moore. For the AM class, Frank Radosti grabbed top spot followed by Guiherme Bencke and Matthew Overton.

Race 2 featured the ‘best’ of BTCC racing with incidents devastating the top end of the grid even before T1. The chaos played straight into the hands of R1 winner, who by the end of lap 1 was already P5. Benefitting from a consistent pace and some errors by those ahead of him, at the chequered flag Rich Hibbs was leading […]

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NARS VWSC Petit LeMans

Race Report by Matthew Overton

October 8, 2020 – While the forecast threatened menacingly, fortune smiled, or at least hold off the rain, for Round 6 of the NARS VWSC Series, back at Road Atlanta.

The race itself however was not so kind, with almost all the drivers having difficulties despite the clear weather. This, combined with LMPC and GTE AM leaders Matthew Overton and Don Fryman failing to grid, has made for some dramatic changes in the championship standings.

In LMP2, JT Tami took a P3 start on the grid to patiently track down Jason Whited, passing him mid-race and then leading 46 of 47 last laps of the race for his third win of the season. Norm Graf rounded out the podium in an LMP2 field that straggled through the final standings.

LMPC looked to be a close competition between Tom Aitken and Bob Robertson until a headlight error brought Bob’s race […]

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