Monday, August 12, 2019

Formula 2: Late race crash at Magny-Cours lead to championship hit for rookie Zachary Fitzwater Jr.

Zachary Fitzwater Jr. picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Formula 2 Series career in Round 11 at Circuit de Nevers - Magny-Cours when his #17 Scuderia Toro Rosso was involved in a multi-car crash after 5 of the 7 laps.

The finish came in his 11th career start. In the SCRL Formula 2 Series, it's the 1st for car #17 and the 2nd from a crash. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 9th for the #17 and the 235th from a crash. Fitzwater Jr. is the son of two time SCRL Champion Zachary Fitzwater Sr., and had never competed in the SCRL before signing up for this series, but had found success in other racing leagues. Fitzwater Jr. finished 8th in his debut at Silverstone, and thanks to the inverted rule the SCRL uses for it's Formula 2 division, he started first in the second round at the same track and scored his first career win in just his second start. A 6th and a 4th at Spa would follow before he scored career win number 2 at Hungaroring before finishing 5th in that race's second event. After struggling to finish 17th at both Catalunya rounds, he bounced back with a 8th in the first round at Donington Park before repeating what he did at Silverstone, winning in the event's second event for win #3 in just his 10th start and entered the 11th race of the season with a 6 point lead over Muhammad Zain Abdullah.

On race day, Fitzwater Jr. rolled off starting 3rd while starting last was first Catalunya last-place finisher the #10 AT&T Williams of Devohn Blue, a position he would hold till the first turn when three time last-place finisher the #25 Virgin Racing of Eddie Wycombe went wide in Turn 1 and smacked the tire barrier, bringing out the first caution of the day. Further up the track, #5 Red Bull Racing of Greg Lee got into trouble as he was run into from behind by two time last-place finisher the #4 Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team of Jason Larker, sending Lee for a spin before being hit by the #24 Virgin Racing of Marko Tellez, sending Lee over for a flip, landing on it's top. Lee's car would be towed back to pit road as the team looked over the car, despite being hit and flipping, the car actually had minor damage, and sent their driver back out on the track.

When racing resumed, chaos would break out quickly as Fitzwater Jr. had led the first two laps but spun out coming to take the green, quickly regaining control and driving up to try and take the lead back, Fitzwater Jr. made it three wide entering Turn 1 as the #20 HRT F1 Team of Tanner Bell made contact with Fitzwater Jr., sending him into the #8 Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro of Tracey Dent, sending both cars for a spin and crashing hard into the Turn 1 wall, bringing out the race ending caution. Fitzwater Jr. was able to limp back to the pit road, fuming mad at Bell for costing him a possible win and valuable points, as the car would be retired after completing five laps and leaving Round 11 21 points behind his championship rival, with Tracy being able to limp home 19th, one lap down after repairs.

Finishing in between Fitzwater Jr. and Tracey Dent was the #15 Force India F1 Team of Chakat Duskwatcher, who would be involved in a second pileup in Turn 5, the same turn that Greg Lee had flipped over, ending hir day also after five laps.

Rounding out the Bottom Five were drivers who survived to finish on the same circuit as the race leaders: 18th was the #18 Lotus F1 Racing of Chakat Whitelion and 17th was the #9 AT&T Williams of Celious Wolf.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #17 had finished last in a Formula 2 race as well at Magny-Cours.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
21) #17-Zachary Fitzwater Jr. / 5 laps / crash led 2 laps
20) #15-Chakat Duskwatcher / 5 laps / crash
19) #8-Tracey Dent / 6 laps / running
18) #18-Chakat Whitelion / 7 laps / running
17) #9-Celious Wolf / 7 laps / running

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