(LIVE UPDATE) FORMULA D (CHICAGO)

[Jim @ FD]

W= Millen
L= McQuarrie
VS.
W= Hubinette
L= Gittin

[s13SRmadness]

hampshaa never spins!!! wtf is going on in chicago!!?!?!

[BooZTT]

Congrats to Sam..and also Mr Millen for 2nd and Tyler for 3rd.

[Jim @ FD]

Final Results

Winner = Hubinette

2nd Place = Millen

**first run water ran onto the track. judges said restart because rhys saw the water but sam didnot and spun. second run sam accelerated before the pace cone and rhys spun going into turn one. rhys concedes to sam instead of another restart.

3rd Place = McQuarrie

4th Place = Gittin

[HondaGirlSi]

Way to go guys! congrads to sam
thanks to FD for the live updates!

[kouki-kun]

water ran onto the track.......so they stopped the run?

im sorry but........wow

[MonkeySlide]

water ran onto the track.......so they stopped the run?

im sorry but........wow

Im sure it was for the best.

Kind of sucks though..Im glad Sam won but Im sure he didn't want to win that way..I wonder why Rhys conceeded to Sam rather than just run again.

Did the track get so wet that he thought it wasn't worth it to run?

[slideways2004]

aww man. i can just hear the conspiracy threads coming out

[uchi_san_saikos]

why was mike peters dq'd?
-randy

[ZoltecRules]

Im sure it was for the best.

Kind of sucks though..Im glad Sam won but Im sure he didn't want to win that way..I wonder why Rhys conceeded to Sam rather than just run again.

Did the track get so wet that he thought it wasn't worth it to run?

Apparently water spilled from the concourse (concessions possibly?) made its way to the middle of the horseshoe. Kind of odd....

[Mike Peters]

why was mike peters dq'd?
-randy

car was on fire and i took off my helmet and flipped my harness lock while on track before goign to the cornerstation.

im also 99+1% sure i didnt qualify and then get dq'ed, because this happened on the 1st run and after fixing the car adn returning to my spot in line i was informed abotu a minute before my 2nd run i was dq'ed

[CrazyHawaiian]

What, did they expect you to sit there and drive off while the car was on fire? Seems ridiculous to me. They should understand that someone driving their own car will probably be more protective of it than someone driving a sponsored car.

[GaijinSmash]

Rhys conceded a possible win for him to Sam? That's kind of unlike him, no? Especially with memories of Sonoma '05.

[Jim @ FD]

Okay before everyone gets all crazy creative about the conspiricies plots, here goes...

Regarding Rhys and Samuel's runs:
Run 1 - Yes, water got onto the track, a significant amount. Rhys was leading and had a chance to see it (whether he did or not I cannot say). Also, you can see Rhys correct his car as he ran through the water. This correction of the car was enough to affect Sam and threw him off going into the water and caused Sam to spin out. The judges felt that because of this hazard and because we did not notify both drivers prior to the run, they ordered a restart.

Run 2 - FD has a "pace cone" system setup and all the drivers know about the rule. Pace till the "accel" cone then you can go full throttle. Sam throttle hard and pulled away from Rhys prior the cone. Again, I cannot say if that threw off Rhys or what but going into the first sweeper, Rhys spun. He was obviously upset and started doing donuts. Because Sam acceled before the cone, judges again ordered a restart. At this time, I would try not to enter my opinion because I was inside the race office but what happen then was Rhys did not want to run any more (my assumption is he was very frustrated with all the restarts) and conceded the win.

**I am sure Alex can get into more technical details. But these are the facts from the events that happened on track. I'd say place yourself in Sam's shoes, Rhys's shoes, the judges' shoes and the track staff's shoes before commenting further.

[Jim @ FD]

What, did they expect you to sit there and drive off while the car was on fire? Seems ridiculous to me. They should understand that someone driving their own car will probably be more protective of it than someone driving a sponsored car.

We expected Mike to do as any and every professional racecar driver does in a possible fire situation.
- Pull the car over.
- Stop the car.
- Turn the car off.
- Get out of the car.
- Let fire/safety crew take it from there.
*DO ALL THIS WHILE KEEPING THE HELMET ON.
**Section 5.1.1.4 of the Formula D rulebook states: "Drivers must wear a helmet during all on track sessions."

Why else do drivers wear helmets and balaclavas (head sock)? And why would balaclavas be made out of nomex? If there was a fire, wouldn't taking the helmet off increase Mike's face of exposure to the fire?