{ Fernando Horta } → Formula Duude

Lotus F1 Team scored a massive amount of points at Zolder this weekend. Despite the fact our car was never driven there and Shaka didn't know the track until the qualifying session, the team managed to score both wins and set the fastest laps of those races.

Joel Santana: De time do gud job, do gud work e ixcore much points. De carro is fest e de pist hevi a gud mix di cornis de drive control de carro gud there, ultrapassing de Libra drive tib on de left, on write e on de midiu. Congratuzatsions!

Shaka: An amazing weekend! We had a very fast and stable car all over the day and the team did a fantastic job on their quest for a great setup. I didn't know the track until qualifying, which I experienced a bizarre moment where my wife got on the radio yelling at me, making me crash on my hotlap. I only managed one timed lap, which was way slower than tib's one. I started both races with a 20kg penalty, which meant I could not be faster than tib on the straights and I tasted that on the first laps of Feature race, where I was trying to learn the track and get past him. Once it became clear that I would not be able to overtake him and was already 8sec behind him, I changed my strategy and went for an early drive through, rejoining the race further back. I set some great laps and it was a very close call: I set the fastest lap of the race on the same lap tib went for his stop and I managed to overtake him on the first corner!

Sprint race saw we exchange positions on track a few times, but those cars are too tricky to be raced like this. Rear view mirrors are completely useless on this car and it was a big risk everytime we were near each other. I spun twice due to gearbox failures, once at the first corner that dropped me 8-9sec behind tib on the second or third lap, another while I was leading (thanks to tib's mistake) on the hairpin, at the penultimate lap, which almost caused a major collision. I was stuck in the middle of the track at a blind spot and had to move somewhere to avoid being collected, I almost took tib out on trying that. Fortunately we both avoided the crash and he went to the grass as result of the ill-positioned mirrors. I feel sorry for him, Sprint race was under his control until he spun and he almost got it back when I made my own mistake.

All in all a great weekend and I'm looking forward to a big challenge at Silverstone, where I'll have to face a very fast opponent and my own weight penalty, this time 55kg onboard.