The seventh race in the 2011 Winter Trophy took place on Laguna Seca. In the championship tables Douna is down 70 points on Kiraly, but due to the scrapresult rule the title fight is still open. In that light it’s strange to see them show up less than prepared.
Douna had to start the race from P22 due to a grid penalty but made an early mistake and damaged his car. In the fourth lap he couldn’t avoid a spinning car, crashed heavily and was forced to retire.
Kiraly seemed to struggle with the pace, spun the Porsche in lap 7 and fell back to P9. After he worked his way up to P6 a last lap problem cost him two positions. This means the scrapresult rule will not cushion the blow if he fails to finish higher in the points in the remaining two championship rounds.
The SFH colors were defended by reigning champion Verdegaal who has seen a dramatic start of the season but made a giant leap into 4th position in the championship standings. He didn’t get it for free though.
Start
At the start of the race both cars on the first two gridspots made a false start and were immediately disqualified. Other cars got away with a drivethrough penalty, Verdegaal being one of them. Verdegaal looked faster than the leading Ferrari’s, but better traction out of the last corner made it easy for them to defend.
Meanwhile Ferrari driver Bart Stroobants – who had started the race from the back with a grid penalty – worked his way up the field with unsettling ease. By the time Verdegaal took the lead he was already in fourth place. It didn’t take long for Stroobants to close the gap and an epic battle followed.
But as Verdegaal defended the inside of the last corner and Stroobants just passed around the outside like it was nothing, the fight seemed to be over. However, Verdegaal clung to the back of the Ferrari and Stroobants now being the hunted could not drive away and the fight lasted right until the last corner of the race.
Results
#69 - Robin Verdegaal - 1st
#04 - András Király - 8th
#93 - Dennis Douna - DNF