Manage Your Pace iRacing F3 Series Laguna Seca Race Reports

Manage Your Pace is a great iRacing league that continues with its fantastic F3 race series, here we have the race reports for Laguna Seca.

Manage Your Pace Season 2 continues with round 2 at Laguna Seca in iRacing, the Dallara F3 race cars are some of the finest in sim racing that guarantees to bring close battles and enjoyable racing for those that participate.

Above is a video of the highlights, and full race reports in detail below. Be sure to check out and support Manage your Pace.

Round 2 – Laguna Seca

Manage Your Pace Season 2 continued with round 2 at the tight and tricky Laguna Seca circuit in Monterey, California. #13 Ruben Laso looked to extend his championship lead while Season 1 race winner #90 Sebastian Rischmann returned for the first time this season after missing the first race.

Qualifying

The drivers took to the track for 15 minutes of qualifying knowing that the optimal strategy was to run the tyres for several laps and aim to put in fast laps at the end of the session. #56 Jules Attivissimo grabbed pole with a fantastic 1:15.4, closely followed by #9 Julius Fahlbusch and Laso rounding out the top 3. An exciting Screw Loose Racing intra-team battle was looming with Rischmann in 4th, #15 Liam Williams and #75 Linus Areng separated by only 0.05s.

Race 1

With a clean getaway from pole, Attivissimo had a clear entry into the Andretti hairpin on lap 1 but spun out on the cold tyres, dropping him to the back of the field and allowing Laso to take 1st position after a great start. There was slight contact between teammates Rischman and Areng, with Areng managing to keep the car pointing in the right direction despite losing a few positions.

The rest of the field got through the first corners cleanly until #4 Okke Boonstra misjudged his breaking into turn 3 on his debut race, causing #2 Jack Williams and #99 Graeme Lynch to end up in the gravel and down the field. Boonstra received 2 penalty points following the race having been deemed to have caused an unnecessary collision.

Lap 1 was about to get interesting as Liam Williams caught the inside curb at turn 6, sending him wide. Williams was able to avoid the wall as he tried to rejoin the pack into the difficult corkscrew. In a tight field #11, Olger Mile was unable to avoid slight contact with the rejoining Williams, sending them both into a spin and causing drivers behind to take avoiding action.

#911 Christoph Volant, #40 Camden Kraft and a recovering Attivissimo were all caught up but managed to avoid major damage. By the end of lap 1, Laso was under pressure from Fahlbusch with a slight gap back to Rischmann in 3rd as Areng overtook #8 Jeremy P Cooper for 4th.

After the incidents on the first lap, the field was well spread out as drivers looked to recover or take advantage of avoiding any issues. Attivissimo continued working his way up the field with an excellent move around the outside of #88 Carl Botfield at the tricky turn 6 while, at the front, Fahlbusch was able to get a run into turn 2 on lap 3, confidently moving past Laso.

#77 Bryan Spaan went wide at the Corkscrew, losing his 9th spot as a close group including Lynch and Botfield formed at the tail of the top 10. With Fahlbusch escaping at the front, Laso was caught by Rischmann and Areng in a tense battle for 2nd heading into lap 5.

Then on lap 5, Fahlbusch span at turn 3 after catching the gravel on entry, allowing the trailing group to pass and dropping him to 6th behind Cooper and #96 Timothy Southern, who were battling for an edge at the top of the AM championship.

Areng saw the opportunity for a win after Fahlbusch’s error, passing Rischmann and starting to put Laso under pressure while, further down the field, Attivissimo had worked his way up to 6th, showing great pace that he would hope to keep for the remaining races.

Areng took the lead briefly on lap 7 into the Andretti hairpin but was unable to hold the speed on the outside, gifting the lead back to Laso. Areng made another attempt around the outside on lap 8 and was able to stay alongside Laso into turn 3.

In a potentially critical moment for the championship, Areng lost the rear of his car on the inside of turn 3, sending him into the unfortunate Laso, who made heavy contact with the wall, ending his race.

Areng’s car looked undamaged, but he pulled over later in the lap, ending his race with two championship contenders losing vital points. As Rischmann took a comfortable lead ahead of Cooper.

Volant continued an excellent recovery drive, gaining 4 positions on lap 8 alone with two overtakes on Mile and Spaan adding to the ‘freebies’ from Areng and Laso. Spaan would later be hit off at the Corkscrew when Mile misjudged his breaking.

On the same lap, Lynch’s race was ended as he lost control at the penultimate turn. Fahlbusch took 2nd place from Cooper, leaving Cooper to defend for the final laps from Southern for the final podium spot and bragging rights in the AM championship.

As Southern put pressure on Cooper on the final lap, Cooper lost control at the ever-tricky Corkscrew, leaving Southern with nowhere to go and allowing Attivissimo to complete his excellent recovery to the podium.

Rischmann won the first race on his return to the championship and highlighted his potential championship credentials 4s ahead of Fahlbusch and Attivissimo completed the podium. Southerm was able to limp the car home in 4th ahead of Cooper in 5th.

The top 10 was completed by another great recovery drive from Volant in 6th followed by #20 Camille Younan in a lonely 7th, ahead of Mile in 8th, #84 Alex Lewis in 9th and Spaan in 10th.

After race 1 Fahlbusch had taken the lead in the championship, capitalising on the low point scores of Laso in 2nd and Areng who dropped 2 places to 5th.

Race 2

After a difficult race 1 for several drivers, race 2 provided an opportunity to recover some momentum but with the grid allocated on the finishing spots in race 1 several drivers were out of position and looking to make fast starts.

A bad initial getaway from Rischmann on pole allowed Fahlbusch and Attivissimo alongside into the hairpin but he was able to hold on to the lead. Attivissimo was forced wide and made contact with Southern on the exit, sending Southern to the back of the pack. At the back of the field Boonstra and Lynch collided heavily with both needing to return to the pits.

The start of lap 1 was generally incident free but a scary oversteer moment at turn 6 for Liam Williams could have been a disaster for those behind. Botfield was able to use his quick reactions avoid Williams and a potential roadblock.

The Corkscrew was again proving tricky on cold tyres as Volant and Mile span on their own but avoided damage and rejoined after the pack had passed.

Fahlbusch took the lead from Rischmann on lap 2 and he would show great pace and consistency to lead unchallenged from that point, leaving the other drivers to contend for the rest of the podium.

Both Liam Williams and Southern would have another pair of independent spins at the corkscrew on lap 2. Dropping them down the order as the race settled into its rhythm with a great battle for 3rd brewing between Cooper and Attivissimo. Cooper defended hard but went wide into the last turn allowing Attivissimo into 3rd and also letting a number of other drivers by.

Areng and Laso had made great progress from lowly grid positions to be 6th and 7th after the first two laps, providing a strong platform to move forward and keep pace with Fahlbusch in the championship. Both drivers were able to pass Younan the following lap to further move up the order.

There was an incident on lap 5 between Williams and #6 Joris Dek as Williams attempted an overtake on the outside of the hairpin. After some hard, but fair, defending earlier in the battle from Dek there was contact made on the exit of the corner with Dek deemed to have caused an unnecessary collision after the race and given 2 penalty points. Both drivers were able to continue without damage.

After eventful earlier laps, the field was again spread out but on lap 6 Rischmann made an uncharacteristic mistake at turn 6, going wide and allowing Attivissimo into 2nd. Further behind Volant in 4th was desperately trying to hold on to the gap he had over Areng until the end of the race.

There was a collision for the final top 10 position as Lewis attempted an overtake on Dek round the outside of the fast turn 6 kink. Unfortunately, Lewis came off worse and ended in the gravel, but was able to keep his car out of the wall and continue.

Botfield took great advantage of this as he overtook both the cars ahead to take 10th. As the driver entered the final laps all eyes were on Areng chasing down Volant for 4th and Williams chasing Cooper for 7th until Rischmann made another error at turn 6, this time spinning on the exit and making contact with the wall and requiring him to return to the pits, ending a promising race 2 for the returning Norwegian.

With Fahlbusch comfortably taking the win from Attivissimo, the battle for the final podium place went right down to the wire as Volant defended hard from Areng right down to the final corner.

Areng took the outside into the last turn and was able as Volant looked to have done enough until losing traction on acceleration and narrowly losing the position on the drag race to the line by 0.08s.

Laso took 5th place ahead of another battle that went down to the wire with Cooper defending from Williams and managing to hold on by 0.06s to take 6th. The top 10 was completed by Younan in 8th, Botfield in a solid 9th and Dek in 10th.

Fahlbusch had extended his championship lead to 20 points after race 2 over Laso, with Attivissimo closing the gap to 2nd to only 5 points.

Race 3

Race 3 began with drivers aiming to end the tricky round on a high and Fahlbusch on pole looking to extend his championship lead even further. At the start, the field was able to make its way through the first few turns with the only major incident being between Mile and Kraft on the tight exit of the hairpin.

Fahlbusch was able to retain the lead with Areng making his customary fast start to move into 2nd ahead of Attivissimo. Attivissimo was able to retake 2nd quickly with a strong move into turn 5.

Race 1 winner Rischmann was looking to make up for some earlier poor starts in the first two races and was adjudged to have jumped the start resulting in a 40s stop and go penalty and effectively ending his chances on a day that started so positively.

Once again the Corkscrew proved incredibly difficult on cold tyres as Attivissimo went wide and Williams, Southern and Dek all lost control to varying degrees. The bunching up of drivers made things difficult into the next turn and Lynch made contact with Lewis resulting in Lynch receiving 2 penalty points for causing an unavoidable collision.

As Fahlbusch and Areng gapped the field there was an intense battle for 3rd going into the 2nd lap with Cooper holding off a pack including Attivissimo, Volant and Laso, with Younan slightly behind.

Attivissimo completed an excellent overtake on Cooper at the Corkscrew to gain 3rd place but the pack had allowed Younan to catch Volant and they made contact at turn 10 with Younan heading to the pits as Volant continued in 14th place.

As Cooper defended from Laso, Attivissimo was able to settle into 3rd place in the hope of chasing down the leading pair, where Fahlbusch held a comfortable gap to Areng but had to be careful not to make any errors. Laso was able to overtake Cooper on lap 4 and set off in chase of a podium.

Boonstra and Spaan were having a terrific battle for 7th that was eventually won by Boonstra while behind, Liam Williams tried to recover, overtaking Jack Williams for 10th shortly after he passed Mile on the same lap.

As with the previous races at Laguna Seca, the field had spread out with large gaps between the front seven cars. However, on lap 8 Attivissimo made a mistake in the hairpin, allowing Laso into 3rd but only just ahead of the pacy Frenchman.

There were still battles for the lower top 10 positions as Liam Williams struggled to get past the hard defending of Dek for 9th as they both closed in on Spaan ahead. As the trio bunched up Williams was able to get past Dek on lap 9 and start attacking Spaan.

Coming in to the final 2 laps, With Fahlbusch destined for Victory ahead of Areng, there were three main battles for fans to keep watching as Attivissimo chased Laso for 3rd, Boonstra had closed in on an impressive Botfield for 6th and Williams attacked Spaan for 8th.

In the battle for 3rd Attivissimo had a nightmare final lap, first spinning at turn 4 while pressuring Laso, dropping down to 5th and allowing Laso to secure the final podium position, then spinning again on the penultimate corner to drop him down to 7th.

Attivissimo will be hoping the points lost on the final lap don’t affect his championship ambitions. Cooper ended an impressively consistent round with a 4th place to add to his earlier 5th and 6th places to increase his AM championship lead.

Behind Cooper, Botfield managed to hold off Boonstra in a close fight to take 5th place. The battle between Spaan and Williams proved to be the closest, Williams used his faster exit speed on the exit of the corkscrew to attempt a risky overtake into turn 9.

As both drivers went side by side into turn 10, Williams ceded the position hoping to make a move into the final turn, and in a similar way to race 2, he was unable to overtake as Spaan took 8th, finishing just 0.06s ahead of Williams with Dek a couple of seconds back taking the final top 10 spot.

Fahlbusch ended the round perfectly with the win to end the day with a 25 point lead in the championship on 133 points, with Laso in 2nd on 108. There was a change for 3rd place as Areng, on 101 points, took advantage of Attivissimo’s difficult final lap, with Attivissimo on 97 points.

In an excellent 5th place overall, Cooper on 94 points ended the round with a comfortable lead over both Williams, 76 points, in the overall championship and Southern, 7th overall on 68 points, in the AM Championship.