A summary of how things panned out in Round 8 of the E1 Championship is here.
The final round of E1 Championship season two was a cliff hanger. Nine drivers went into the season finale with a possibility of clinching the championship due to the double points on offer. In qualifying it was Championship leader, Muhammad Ibrahim from India who again put it on pole position. However his teammate from Team Flash, Muhammad Aleef, who was sitting third in the championship, was disconnected from qualifying and could not take part. Aleef felt he could have had pole position and the disappointed Singaporean started last for Race 1.
Championship rival, Australia’s Josh Purwien from BlackArts Racing qualified second and had a good start off the line to pressure Ibrahim over the first few laps. However as the race settled down and tyre wear started to play it’s part, Ibrahim stretched his lead and eventually crossed the line to take the win by 7 seconds from Purwien, with Aleef in third. Aleef had a superb race from the back of the grid to third and kept his championship hopes alive heading into Race 2.
In Race 2’s reverse grid race, the pressure was on Ibrahim and the Indian looked very tense during the race. It did not help that contact with Purwien on the opening laps had dropped him down the field. Up front we saw an epic battle that went on between Kalen Chin, Luke Bannister and Inigo Anton from the Philippines. They changed positions several times and it continued up to and through the pit stops, although a mistake in the pits dropped Anton down the field.
After the pit stops, Aleef caught up to the lead battle and eventually overtook Chin for the lead, after Chin had contact with Bannister that also dropped the Australian down the field. However on the last lap of the race, Chin would overtake Aleef for the lead with a good move down the inside of turn 4. Josh Purwien tried to follow his fellow Australian through and he had contact with Aleef that took the Singaporean out of the battle for the lead.
Kalen Chin would hold off Purwien for his and Black Wolf Racing’s first win of the season. Purwien would eventually get a penalty for the collision with Ibrahim, which promoted the Indian to second and Dominic Ang up to third. In the championship, Ibrahim would win his very first E1 Championship title, with Purwien second and Aleef in third.
#E1Championship #SimRacing A recap of Round 8, the final round of Season 2. Qually and 2 races at @SilverstoneUK with the championship for @teamflash_gg driver Muhammad Ibrahim #33 . #MsportXtra @e1race @everygoodgame @eracinggpsea pic.twitter.com/0xm6OLZv9U
— #MsportXtra (@MsportXtra) November 4, 2021
Here’s where you can watch it: https://www.facebook.com/e1championship
Here’s how Round 7 in E1 Championship panned out
[Note: The above is as per press release with no edits made]