Final Standings (see the full details in the ICS-Database):
1. #045 Marc van Brakel
1304853 $
2. #095 Wiley King
1189247 $
3. #007 Paulo Rocha
1148063 $
Race-Report 12 of 12, Saturday, 5th December 2009 @ Phoenix
Maksajda victorious at Phoenix
The 12th and last race of the season was held at Phoenix International Raceway.
After a dominant display, it was Dariusz Maksajda who took the checkered flag, after having led 184 of 188 laps. Second was Johannes Leemann, who was the only one who could stay in his vicinity after the last restart. Third was Andrzej Owsianka, fourth Steve Smith, and fifth Marc van Brakel.
That fifth place was more than enough for him to become the champion of the 2009 season!
Not only was this the last race of this season, it was also the last race with Nascar 2003. In 2010, the ICS will continue with iRacing.
Race 12 of 12, Saturday, 5th December 2009 @ Phoenix
Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 @ Phoenix Int. Raceway
Race-Report 11 of 12, Saturday, 7th November 2009 @ Texas
Wiley King does it again at Texas!
Wiley King has won the penultimate race of the season at Texas. The American held off Johannes Leemann (2nd) and Dariusz Maksajda (3rd) in the last laps of the race and emerged victorious for the second time in his ICS career.
Marc van Brakel finished fourth, laying another layer of concrete on his championship-title foundation, and Matthias Bayer finished fifth."
Next month, Phoenix will be the venue for the last race of the ICS Season 2009. Don't miss it!
Author: Marc van Brakel
Race 11 of 12, Saturday, 7th November 2009 @ Texas
Race-Report 10 of 12, Saturday, 3rd October 2009 @ Kansas
Justin Roberts wins at Kansas
The last restart in this 161-lap race was on lap 25 and despite Florian Kirchhofer and Marc van Brakel trying to keep up in the beginning, it was clear that the battle for the lead would be between Justin Roberts and Matthias Bayer.
Bayer's car was better than Roberts' in the long run; he closed a gap of several seconds to Roberts and even passed him, a couple of laps before Roberts would peel off into pit lane.
It was in the pit lane, however, where the foundations for Roberts' eventual win would be laid. After the first green-flag pit stop, Roberts had a lead of 8-9 seconds over Bayer.
That lead shrunk to about 5 seconds until the second green-flag pit stop, but after that the gap had grown even more: 11 seconds.
For Bayer an insurmountable gap to close and on lap 161, Justin Roberts took the checkered flag.
Matthias Bayer finished second, Marc van Brakel third, Wiley King (who had been on a one-stop strategy) fourth, and Andreas Scholz fifth.
Author: Marc van Brakel
Race 10 of 12, Saturday, 3rd October 2009 @ Kansas
Race-Report 9 of 12, Saturday, 5th September 2009 @ Atlanta
From last to first at Atlanta
Florian Kirchhofer has won the ninth race of the season at Atlanta. But it was no ordinary win: He started 20th and last, but 195 laps later it was he who took the chequered flag. His winning pass on Daniel Leiss, who had led 132 laps in total by that time, came in lap 190 and two laps later a yellow ended the race prematurely.
Florian's direct pursuers, Matthias Bayer, Daniel Leiss and Mike McNealy, had collided, which allowed Marc van Brakel to pass them and take second before the three drivers regained control of their cars again and reached the finish.
Edu Junqueira came a few seconds too late to take advantage of the race back to the line and finished 6th.
Author: Author: Marc van Brakel
Race 9 of 12, Saturday, 5th September 2009 @ Atlanta
Race-Report 8 of 12, Saturday, 1st August 2009 @ Watkins Glen
Martin Buchan dominates at The Glen!
Martin Buchan has won the 8th race of the season at Watkins Glen! He took the lead from pole sitter Dariusz Maksajda in the first lap and lead every lap until the checkered flag, 63 laps later. In the beginning, only Maksajda and Marc van Brakel were able to keep up with the Scot, but the unfortunate Maksajda crashed heavily in lap 11 and Van Brakel, who finished second, lost sight of Buchan in the last part of the race.
The rest of the field was cut off from the leaders early in the race, when Van Brakel and Andrzej Owsianka collided entering the Esses. Van Brakel's car was undamaged, but Owsianka bounced hard off the wall and hit Andreas Scholz, who had nowhere to go. Everyone else did a great job of avoiding further carnage, but it did mean an instantaneous 5-second gap to the leaders, which only increased as the race progressed. In the end, it was Florian Kirchhofer who finished 3rd, Steve Smith 4th and Andreas Scholz 5th.
Author: Marc van Brakel
Race 8 of 12, Saturday, 1st August 2009 @ Watkins Glen
Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen
@ Watkins Glen International 2007
*** The download-path of the track can be found in the ICS-sub-forum. ***
Track-Info: 2,45 Miles, 11 Turns banked between 6° and 10°
Race-Report 7 of 12, Saturday, 4th July 2009 @ Indianapolis
Dariusz Maksajda wins at Indianapolis
Dariusz Maksajda wins the big prize at Indy, defeating Paulo Rocha in a close finish.
With drivers complaining about the tires and their pressurebuilding, it wasn't an easy one, with a many cars being involved in wrecks right after a start / restart.
Author: Florian Kirchhofer
Race 7 of 12, Saturday, 4th July 2009 @ Indianapolis
Race-Report 6 of 12, Saturday, 6th June 2009 @ Pocono
Maksajda invincible at Pocono
The Polish Dariusz Maksajda won his 2nd race this season. He qualified 4th, but it took him just 3 laps until he was in the lead.
Wiley King and Stephan Peters pushed him hard all the race long, but Maksajda was in a class of his own and could hold them behind.
Stephan Peters finished 2nd, Lukas Srnanek completed the podium as 3rd.
Bad luck for pole sitter King when he came to the pit in lap 108 (out of 120): The car jack got broken so he had to leave the pit with his old tires and re-enter the pit a lap later again. This dropped him from 3rd to 11th.
But King didn't give up and fought back spot by spot until lap 113 when he got loose after turn 1 and spun on position 6. Blessing in disguise he spun just in the greenfield and didn't damage his car so he could finish the race in 8th.
Race-Report 5 of 12, Saturday, 2nd May 2009 @ Dover
Sowada victorious again
Rene Sowada has won the 5th race of the season at Dover. It was his second win in only four races in this league.
When the officials waved the last yellow flag, 15 laps before the finish, the then 5th placed German was the first to dive into the pits and restarted with 11 laps to go in 6th spot. The five drivers in front of him all had 25-lap-old tyres, the drivers behind him, most notably Dariusz Maksajda and Daniel Leiss, had new tyres and would probably pounce on any opportunity they would get.
Sowada passed Mike McNealy in turn 1 after the restart when the latter self-spun into the infield. Three laps later newcomer to the ICS Filipe Caldas had to let Sowada by and one lap after that it was Marc van Brakel's turn to admire the 99's sponsor from behind. At this point, Maksajda was still following Sowada closely. Leiss had lost some ground to them both.
Lukas Srnanek did not want to give up his second place willingly. He made Sowada fight for it, but 4 laps before the finish Sowada found the gap and passed Srnanek.
A lap later Sowada appeared at Matthias Bayer's spoiler. The number 101 had led 96 laps in this race up until then, but he wouldn't lead the lap that mattered, because Sowada passed Bayer without problems. Now the track was clear, Sowada didn't make any mistakes and took the checkered flag! Behind him, Maksajda tried to snatch second place away from Bayer, but he came 0.08 seconds short on the line. Fourth was Daniel Leiss and fifth Lukas Srnanek.
Race-Report 4 of 12, Saturday, 4th April 2009 @ Talladega
Polish victory!
Dariusz Maksajda is the winner of the 4th race in the 2009 ICS season at Talladega. The Polish native took the lead in lap 68 and held on to it until the finish in lap 113. Second was Florian Kirchhofer and third Rene Sowada. Alan Strang, in his first race since the 5th of April 2008, finished fourth, the best finishing position for the Scot in the ICS. Marc van Brakel passed Andreas Kroeger in the green-white-checkered restart for fifth place.
Paulo Rocha's 7th place at Talladega was enough to hold on to the first place in the general standings. He now has an advantage of about 17,000 over Matthias Bayer. Third is Andreas Kroeger (+3), fourth is Marc van Brakel (+5) and fifth is Rene Sowada (+6). Race winner Dariusz Maksajda has gained 11 places and is now tenth.
Author: Marc van Brakel
Race 4 of 12, Saturday, 4th April 2009 @ Talladega
Race-Report 3 of 12, Saturday, 7th March 2009 @ Martinsville
Marty Madness
On the 7th of March, 20 drivers appeared at the paper clip-shaped track of Martinsville for the start of the 3rd race of the season. This would turn out to be a race with a promising start, a messy middle, and a surprising finish.
Matthias Bayer was the fastest in qualifying and started the race on pole. It was a relatively orderly first part of the race with only 5 yellows during the first 75 laps (remember, this is Martinsville we're talking about). Unfortunately, by this time drivers were starting to lose focus and there wouldn't be a green lap stint for more than a couple of laps until the restart on lap 186. At this point the race had already taken 1 hour and 45 minutes.
However, the remaining 114 laps would only take approximately 50 minutes, due to two 40-lap green flag stints. With 5 laps to go, Mike McNealy had a comfortable 3-second lead over Rene Sowada. Nothing seemed to stand between Mike and the win when the unthinkable happened. While trying to pass a lapped car at the exit of turn 4 in lap 296, Mike stepped on the gas too early and spun. Rene Sowada, who hadn't lead a single lap up until then, coolly avoided the American and crossed the finish line, Andreas Kroeger in his wake. Mike was then bumped over the finish line before Wiley King could pass him. 5th was Marc van Brakel, only 0.02 seconds ahead of Florian Kirchhofer. The pace car lead the cars around the track for a couple of laps, but the race would not be restarted anymore, so this was the finishing order.
Slow in, fast out. Next stop: Talladega.
Author: Marc van Brakel
Race 3 of 12, Saturday, 7th March 2009 @ Martinsville
Race-Report 2 of 12, Saturday, 7th Febr. 2009 @ California
Wiley King conquers California
The second race of the ICS 2009 season was held at the California Speedway.
Lukas Srnanek was the fastest during qualifying and led the field of 27 drivers to the green flag for a race over 150 laps. Joerg Kormany passed the Czech in lap 10 but he lost control of his car in T2 of lap 44, causing Caspar Kahari (who had come from 27th to 2nd in 44 laps) to crash into him and then into the fence. Joerg, Caspar, as well as an unfortunate Daniel Leiss, who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, were unable to continue the race.
It brought Lukas back in the lead, and soon after the restart a group of four drove away from the rest: Lukas Srnanek, Andreas Kroeger, Mike McNealy, and Wiley King. Wiley took the lead in lap 57 and Mike in lap 63. Mike was very strong during the middle part of the race. He wouldn't let go of the lead until lap 105, even after the for the ICS almost customary green flag pit stops.
There were yellow flags in lap 104, 126 and 131. The race was restarted in lap 136 for a fifteen-lap showdown. At the restart, the order was Wiley King, Mike McNealy, Paulo Rocha (who had been relatively invisible up until then), Lukas Srnanek, and Andreas Kroeger. Andreas passed Lukas for fourth and Paulo passed Mike for second in lap 141. Then Paulo started applying heavy pressure on Wiley, but as the crowd got to its feet, for the difference between the number one and the number five was almost always less than 1 second, Wiley withheld the pressure, passed the finish line and won the race at California.
Author: Marc van Brakel
Race 2 of 12, Saturday, 7th Febr. 2009 @ California
Track-Info: 2 Mile D-shaped oval; all turns 14° banked; Front Stretch 11° banking; Back Straightaway 3° banking
Race-Report 1 of 12, Saturday, 10th Jan. 2009 @ Chicagoland
Matthias Bayer - a win at the first go!
An impressive amount of 32 drivers with various nationalities appeared on track for ICS's first race of the 2009 season at Chicagoland.
Unfortunately, with so many new drivers unfamiliar with each other, the first half of the race was rather yellow-infested. In the first 85 laps there were 11 yellows, but when the green flag was shown in lap 89, the true gentleman spirit of the ICS emerged and despite some bumps and hits it stayed green until Matthias Bayer took the checkered flag on lap 161.
Places 2 to 5 were hotly contested until the very end; only 0.42 seconds separated Alan J Shoemaker (2nd), Thomas Hendrickson (3rd), Timmy Johnston and Paulo Rocha (5th).
Come back Saturday, 7th February for more racing spectacle with the ICS at California!
Author: Marc van Brakel
Race 1 of 12, Saturday, 10th Jan. 2009 @ Chicagoland
That fifth place was more than enough for him to become the champion of the 2009 season!;)
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Marc van Brakel finished fourth, laying another layer of concrete on his championship-title foundation, and Matthias Bayer finished fifth."
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For Bayer an insurmountable gap to close and on lap 161, Justin Roberts took the checkered flag. ;)
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Dariusz Maksajda wins the big prize at Indy, defeating Paulo Rocha in a close finish.;)
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