Dodge's blog

Now, you may be wondering about the headline, and what it’s referencing, but I promise you’ll find out later, in this review of the 68th season of my nations cup!

This took place on GRID Autosport, with the McLaren F1 cars. 12 drivers from 8 different countries competed – some drivers had competed in previous seasons while others were complete rookies, which created an interesting dynamic, as the season would go on to be a title fight between a rookie and a non-rookie. Who prevailed? Read the page on the wiki! But if you’d still rather read this, then go ahead, as we dive into a review of season 68!

The season started at Bathurst – not a good omen for defending champion Vic Torious, who admits that the famed Aussie circuit is one of his weaker tracks – and it would sadly be the same here, as the British driver would crash out of both races. Both races would be won by Saudi Arabia’s nations cup veteran Faisal Mahmoud, who after many seasons of finishing a distant third or fourth, might have actually been looking to bring the drivers’ title to his country for the first time. Having taken pole and both fastest laps and therefore maximising his points haul from down under, it looked like this could be the season. But it wouldn’t be so straightforward, as we’ll get to shortly…

The fight to prevail

Round 2 (races 3 and 4) at Brands Hatch saw a grey Ravenwest Motorsport car win both races – but it wouldn’t be Mahmoud. Indeed, race 3 was one to forget for the Saudi, as he flipped over on a kerb on the exit of the McLaren corner, and finished 9th. Teammate Táng Qiang won both races, giving the Chinese driver a big points haul on his now-rival. Despite Mahmoud’s second-placed finish in race 4, the circus would travel to round 3 in Barcelona with Qiang leading the standings.

Mahmoud would win the two races in Barcelona, but Qiang’s runner-up positions ensured that the Chinese driver would keep holding onto his championship lead, which was then extended as Qiang won the two races at the following round in Dubai. Meanwhile, below this, the fight for 5th was hotting up between Swiss veteran Noah Bernasconi, Chilean rookie Cristóbal Muñoz and Mexican rookie Alejandro Pérez, and Dutch driver Levi van den Berg had also fought to take himself out of last place in the standings. This would all come to a conclusion following two races in San Francisco, which was also the inspiration for the headline…

The title decider in San Fran Stinktown

Despite a series of struggles earlier on in the season, Vic Torious’ form would turn inside out, as the Briton took pole and both fastest laps en route to winning both races and earning himself a close 7th in the standings, only a handful of points behind the aforementioned Muñoz and Bernasconi – the Swiss driver would eventually win the battle for p5, with 94 points compared to the 92 that Chilean Muñoz would score. However, those 92 points would take Chile to an all-time high of 47th in the cup, therefore entering the top 60 (and then top 50) for the first time, and Switzerland were able to restake their claim in their fight for the top 10.

Upfront though, Mahmoud would beat Qiang on track during both races (Mahmoud finished 2nd in both races and Qiang finished 3rd), although the 12-point lead that Qiang held prior to the two races would only be cut down to 8, and not overhauled, meaning that for the first time since season 6 (and the second time overall), China claimed a drivers’ title, and therefore joined an exclusive club of countries that have won multiple titles (other members include the Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Denmark and the UK). But we haven’t even gotten to the headline yet, so here we are…

The races at San Francisco took place on a street course, as had occured at the previous rounds in Barcelona and Dubai, but this one had ramps for possibly the first time in nations cup history, so the cars were jumping up and down, which was quite the spectacle – although whether it will be repeated remains to be seen…

What’s next?

Season 69 (which at the time of writing has been finished), which will see a review soon!

Nice.

Stay tuned to both this and the wiki to find out what happens, and thank you for reading!