Unofficial Results – Round 3 – Hayashigawa retains championship lead – but Phillipsen and Kirkpatrick are closing in

Unofficial Results – Round 3 – Hayashigawa retains championship lead – but Phillipsen and Kirkpatrick are closing in
Thu 19 Apr, 11:33 AM

After 3 rounds of Tri-C TAG MASTERS World Championship, the Japanese super star, Larry Hayashigawa remains as the leader in the driver’s championship standing with a total of 595 pts.

The MakLaren driver is followed closely by Brian Phillipsen with 587 pts. With his second consecutive win of the year, the 8-time world champions moved from 6th in the standings of the previous month to 2nd. Many expects Phillipsen to take over the lead in the standings as early as the next round, but Hayashigawa is determined not to let it happen.

“I still have an advantage of 8 pts over him and my CRG/Leopard package has shown a lot of potential. We will work very hard during this break and we have a few things that we will try out for the first time in our wind tunnel. I will defend and hold my position in the world championship.”

Another driver that significantly moved up in the standings is the Irish, Jack Kirkpatrick. The Pherrari driver moved from 5th last month and is now comfortably in 3rd with 580 pts. However, should Tri-C World Counsel agree that Kirkpatrick’s engine change was illegal on Saturday, all points from April’s race could be taken away and it would severely hurt Kirkpatrick’s chance in winning this year’s world title.

Alex King lost his 3rd position he had last month and moved down to 4th in the standings with the total of 566 pts. It is important to note that this include the 200 pts earned in February as “work for points” system allowed him to claim such points. The Brazilian is under intense pressure from the team, MakLaren, to perform in May. Round 4 will be crucial for King’s championship hopes.

“I understand what is at stake here” said King. “I am used to be fighting for the lead in a race and in the championship, not to fight for a middle spot. I must admit that the transition from Senior Sportsman to TAG has been more difficult than predicted, but I am still confident that I can be competitive in this series.”

In 5th position is James Bratton with 545 pts. The Toyoda driver had a disappointing performance on Saturday and moved down from 4th. With SSC Racing providing trackside support to Tri-C TAG MASTERS, there is a good possibility that Bratton will find the speed he needs in the long main straight of Moran Raceway.

John Passon gained two positions and moved up to 6th with 540 pts and is only 5 pts behind 5th place, James Bratton.
“I am very motivated given my last performance and will target to swap positions with Bratton next month and maybe with King” said a relaxed and optimistic Passon.

The Sawber driver, Don Amigliore, alsog gained two positions in the standings. Amigliore is now in 7th with the total of 523 pts. Amigliore should be able to retain this position next month given that Steve Thompson is 34 pts behind him in 8th place with the total of 489 pts. Thompson told reporters earlier this week that he doesn’t not expect significant changes next month.

“I am not holding my breath. We will do what we can but to say that I will be able to fight for a win next month is simply unrealistic. I don’t want to promise anything to my fans but the fact that I will give my body and soul to be competitive next month.”

The second Sawber driver, Brad Bowman lost 3 positions in the standings and is now in 9th with the total of 477 pts. Sawber is quickly becoming one of the most competitive teams among the mid packers and we could see Bowman move up next month.

Surprisingly, the American hero, Kurt Burris is found in 10th place in the world standings with 395 pts. This is primarily due to the fact that Burris missed March’s race and the system is not taking into consideration that he will earn an additional 200 pts as “work for points” and these additional points would allow me to tie with Hayashigawa for the lead in the driver’s championship standings.

These are unofficial results and the official results (for all positions) will be reported later as soon as Tri-C World Counsel hears the expected formal complaints from Pensque and MakLaren in regards to Kirkpatrick’s engine change.