- MANUFACTURER SERIES
- Nissan Wins the Manufacturer Series Back-to-Back! TRL_LIGHTNING Finishes Season 2 with a Double Title Victory!
- 2018 Season 2: Manufacturer Series
- 31/07/2018
The final stage of Manufacturer Series Season 2 was set at the Circuit de la Sarthe. The winner of the Nations Cup, Germany's TRL_LIGHTNING on the Nissan car #6, was on pole, raising expectations for a double title victory.
However, there were turmoils at the start: TRL_LIGHTNING smoked his tyres on pole position, losing traction and immediately dropping position to 7th place. Car #8, mthomas_95's Ferrari, took advantage of the situation and raised to the top. With the unexpected drop of the king, the race outcome became unclear.
The top group with mthomas_95 (Ferrari) in the lead entered the pit on Lap 3. TRL_LIGHTNING (Nissan), who was stuck in the middle group, did not enter the pit, opting for a 1 stop strategy.
Then it became an overtaking competition between 3 cars: TRL_LIGHTNING's car #6 (Nissan), kallum_jones's car #21 (Ford), and mclaren6's car #10 (Chevrolet), who also took the 1 pit strategy on Lap 4.
There was no definite answer yet on whether the 1 stop drivers or the 2 stop drivers had the advantage.
The overall order became clear on Lap 6 when Zoky88's car #2 (Dodge) made his second stop on and came out of the pits. Following Nissan, Chevrolet and Ford in 4th place, Zoky88 started his assault on fresh tyres.
On the final lap, Zoky88 finally caught up with the top group: a tail to nose, side by side sprint battle ensued, with Chevrolet, Nissan, Dodge and Mitsubishi in the mix.
With Zoky88 in the lead, the cars enter the final Ford chicane; but the positions changed greatly at the finish line when both the leading driver Zoky88 (Dodge) and the follower mclaren6 (Chevrolet) dropped their pace. The one who grasped victory by overcoming the chaos was Nissan’s TRL_LIGHTNING in car #6, who had a bad start but succeeded in raising his position thanks to his pit strategy and careful tyre management.
Nissan obtained a 2nd consecutive win following Season 1, and TRL_LIGHTNING successfully achieved a double title victory in both the Nations Cup and Manufacturer Series championships.
