The first race evening of the new ABC Cup brought a colorful potpourri of cars to the Blackwood circuit.

Before the start each driver had to decide in which configuration they would like would like to drive the Cup:
With engine restriction? With ballast?
Or in a "compromise" version.
Not a decision to be taken likely as the whole Cup must be done with the same car.
In the end each spec was chosen excactly 7 times.

In the one-lap qualification Mondbrot secured pole-position in front of guestdriver M.Kapal and Calin.
Fourth position was claimed by AkuLambat and so all specs were present in the first two rows of the grid.



The first race was a sprint over 12 laps.
With the short duration and no pitstops it would be difficult to gain positions during the race, so a good start was important.



Luckily the drivers were disciplined enough not to attempt winning the race in the first lap.
But a bit contact sometimes just happens and so Temporato and Hilux67 got together in the chicane but could continue.

The best place in a field of cars that wiggles through T1 and the chicane of Blackwood is of course at the front.
Mondbrot and Calin hold their respective positions until the finish line while everybody in the back struggled for positions.


picture: The unchallengend leaders, in background LRK-racer about to get spun in a 3-wide situation on lap 5.

The XFG cars always make for close racing and this was no exception.
End of lap 7 Mazdarati run a bit too wide in front of AkuLambat who used his chance to take fourth position.
Howevever the sucess did not last long as Mazdarati quickly counterattacked.

Ring had some good first laps as he managed to free himself of the midfield on P13 and climbed to ninth position.
There however he was stuck behind Migpha and was unable to pass him for the rest of the race.
In the last lap DRAXA, who was climbing up from last place, used his better topspeed to pass Ring on the straight.


picture: The close finish from P7 to P11 - 4 cars within half a second.





The second race would last 25 laps with the result of the sprint defining the start start order.

Lap 6 Kapal used his power advantage to attempt a pass on Calin on the straight for second place.
As they came to the turn however, Calin was able to hold the inside line and stay by his side for the next turns.
Their slowdown allowed Mazdarati and DRAXA to close in and both overtook Kapal.
Not wanting to give up so easy, Kapal promptly countered but after some laps had to settle with fifth position.

Calin made the best of the situation and ran away with second place. Mondbrot was also happy about the situation as it helped him keep the lead.



picture: Hilux67 under attack by Camoradi, in background Gutholz vs Yisc

After several nice laps of back&forth, Gutholz eventually managed to stay in front of Hilux67 and Yisc.
In his attempt to keep up Yisc pushed too hard and ended his race on the roof.


Draxa was more sucessful with his stunt driving attempts: He continued his climb from the sprint race, missing the podium by just one position.
Not bad at all, considering the start from P21.



Towards the end things heated up for a last time as Starlord attempted a pass on Toberkel.
They got together in the chicane and both crashed into the tire barriers.



In the end Mondbrot and Calin had won both races, also thanks to their good qualification times.
The rest of the field could be seen in constant battle for positions which surely was entertaining to watch but ultimately denied them a chance to catch up to the leaders.
The different car specs had shown to be balanced, yet different: The red class could get an easy run on the straights while the two other classes seemed faster in the turns, especially during draking after the long straight.