Written by Gianluca Roncaglia on January 22, 2022

4Fun vs Thunder Crew Grand Prix 2nd Edition: The Votes

Roman Smirnov – Hats off to Roman, who completely dominated the race after the qualify, driving everything in range with four wheels and getting the best results. However, none saw him racing since he was too far away from anyone, so we can’t judge further. An alien in a rocket.

Vote: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 and even -1

Mauricius Klericus Maximus – The Emperor of Racing (although Omer Kinay might have something against this definition) fought at his hardest in a race with a real parterre de roi – pardonnez moi, parterre des empereurs. The Flying Dutch tried to enlighten the battle with the sparks he aroused from Michele Rizzo’s car (wow, this is poetry), missing the win but confirming himself a crowned racer. Hail!

Vote: 10 beers (what else?)

Omer “Omerius” Kinay – The Emperor of Racing – he will for sure have a talk with all usurpers – got back on the track showing a royal performance. Despite the little practice, he had a monster qualy time and a very nice race. Where’s the news, you’ll say. Well, he didn’t win. But he’s a winner of a own class. Cool.

Vote: X²+Y²– a/2 = 10. Determine the value of X, Y and a

Michele Rizzo – The Diamond in the Rose had a sumptuous race although this was a short one according to his standards (“I’ll bet a dinner that you won’t be in the top 5”, said him his teammate Francesco Senni). The hard fight with Klerken didn’t make him lose his temper – he even roasted a hot-dog on the sparks. A simracing ninja.

Vote: 10 (hours of racing)

Max Cazzaniga – The second Rose in the basket offered a rose to his wife and received the key of the car and a kiss for the winner… all that romantics to say that Max drove a solid and consistent race, despite the skeptical comments of his teammate Francesco Senni (“I’ll bet a dinner that you won’t be on the top 5”). A breed rocket and racer.

Vote: 18 and Life

Michal “Lindbergh” Janak – Another solid race (probably his 2354^th solid race in the last six months) for the Flying Czech, that came to Oulton Park directly with his Fokker triplane (not a model, a real one). Michal decided to do the next race also with an airplane, and is discussing with the 4Fun/TC guys if he will be allowed to drop bombs on the other drivers. Race ace!

Vote: 9 loopings

Matteo “Lazy” Venuti – Another not so lucky race for the Bisiac racing addicted, still uncomfortable with his new racing wheel since all the wheel pieces are perfectly working, and this confuses Matteo a lot. Although getting a monster laptime in qualy (the only lap he did, by the way) and having some nice battles, he had to give some places back. Anyway, who cares? He is a heck of a driver, do you remember?

Vote: 8,5

Alex “G-Eis” Geier – The Driver with the Ice in his Veins got mad – he moved BOTH the corners of his mouth – in seeing that the beloved Audi picked for the race was a barge. Alex immediately switched his Audi with an Alfa, took the Italian citizenship (his name is now legally Alessandro Avvoltoio*) and kindly asked if it was OK, since he already changed his car once, if he raced with a Ferrari F50. All his stream followers were delighted by his nice comments on Roncaglia – “Gianluca has a very good pace” – and also for the translation in the YouTube subtitles – “He drives like a drunk, will crash somewhere in a while”. Cool, calm, connected, cynical, creative, cittadino italiano. Mamma mia!

Vote: Dieci e lode!

*Believe it or not, this was written independently from Simone’s article. Mamma mia!

Robert Duplantier – The classy French ace forgot about the race, he thought it was in a leap year – on Jupiter. Anyway, he happily presented on track 5 minutes before the race and didn’t listen to Mauro Castelli, that suggested him to pick the Toyota Avensis as the fastest car. With a Venuti* of practice with the Alfa Robert had a good and well deserved placement in the top 10. Plastic fantastic racer!

*an interval of time corresponding to 3,5 seconds

Vote: 9

Nick “Fisherhall” Hall – The King of Copyright Infringements (© Nick Hall) acted like a sportsmanship hero and decided to drive his Audi barge ship to the end of the race. He dressed like a pirate, raised the sails and sung the “Blood Red Roses” sea shanty while ramming the Rose Team vessels. Look at the old Hall at the Old Hall turn!

Vote: 15 (men on the dead man’s chest)

Mauro Castelli – The Yellow Submarine of racing struggled a lot in qualy trying to be ranked better than Roncaglia (“I’ll bet a dinner that you will be behind him at the end of the race”, said him his teammate Francesco Senni), driving a couple of nights by saying “just one more lap and I’ll go to bed then”. Well, he didn’t, but he’s a bohémien and slept in the middle of the day or whenever he liked, this is not your business. He won the battle with Roncaglia and did a good race, but can improve. AUGURI! Soundtrack: Castles Made of Sand – Jimi Hendrix

Vote: 24/7 (of leisure)

Martin “Am I Consistent or Not?” Sorg – And finally after a while a Thunder is roaring again! As his teammates did, Martin hastily changed the Audi with the Alfa and did a bunch of laps in a lively – especially because Roncaglia, practicing for the race, tried to bump anyone he met on the track – Sunday night qualy session. Well, despite the difficulties Martin proved again to be the King of Consistency (and of Convenience). Rock solid!

Vote: 8

Eduardo “Planet O” Odriozola – The former Havoline, nowadays Thorndyke and future Ugly Sweaters Racing Team member spread his yellow joy all over the place with a good race after a very short practice and qualy (maybe 3 Venuti and a half). A Christmas candy before the Ocean!

Vote: ####====######====#####

Gianluca Roncaglia – “It was a pleasant and nice race, quiet and with absolutely no trouble on track. It is always a pleasure to race in a so nice circle of racing friends, where respect, sportsmanship and clean passes are for real. See you soon, guys!” (G.L. Roncaglia)

Vote: 4 killed, 3 wounded, 1 missing in action (Francesco Senni, probably still wrapped in the tires of the second chicane)

Andrew “Fisheroberts” Roberts – The Flashing King of Flashes also decided with conspicuous gallantry, above and beyond the call of duty, to drive the Audi. Well done, soldier! Anyway, his courageous and brilliant race was destroyed by—[sorry, the file data seems corrupted here; Gianluca]. Waiting for some new sponsorship and horse power on track!

Vote: 8 and some more flashings

Francesco “I’ll Bet a Dinner” Senni – Well, Francesco is disappeared, and is not answering to the phone calls and messages of his teammates, waiting before the restaurant. If you have news, please call the “4Fun/Thunder Crew Missing Drivers Office”.

Vote: Missing

Michael “Marathon” Martin – The Stakanov of racing strikes back! And another graduated racer that choosed the Audi – well, you know, Michael graduated Magna Cum LAudi. Back from the 24H of Daytona, the Mille Miglia and the Paris-Dakar, Michael tried to stay awake but had a stroke of sleep crashing in the Roncaglia chicane (© Stefano Casamonti), causing also a contact with Dario Bucalo. The two gentlemen repainted each other the livery and then decided to create together a company to design liveries. Versatile, and shining as a new livery.

Vote: 24h

Jack “Massive” Mike Mass – The third Thunder in the dark was a thunder in the Park, as Jack after auditing the Audi jumped on an Alfa and turned the engine on. JMM had a perfectible race, but he’s always bravely fighting in the pack. Satisfaction guarantee.

Vote: 8 and Mass

Dario “GAudi” Bucalo – The architect, the artist, the creative genius, the brain and the heart of simracing almost consumed the abovementioned brain on trying to trim some tenths from the qualy laptime with his Audi. Some people with evil in their soul suggested Dario to grab an Alfa, but our upright Dario didn’t change his mind: “I wanted to prove to the world that I’m slow even with slow cars, and not only with the fast ones”. What else to say?

Vote: A masterpiece is not to be voted, part 2

Simone “Focusing” Saviolo – Well, a romantic heart chooses for a race the car he has in real life, right? So did Simone, that immediately focused on a Focus. Not the fastest car in town, but the scent of an unique choice pleased Simone more than anything else. We’ll talk another time about the race.

Vote: 6,5

Joachim “KM” Leonard – And now it’s time for the final Thunder, the last victim of the Audi/Alfa affaire! With little practice and even less with the Alfa, Joachim decided to drive calmly at his own pace letting people pass – but he moved off track when Roncaglia was approaching, you never know – but keeping himself far from the last place. Applause!

N.B.: Joachim, wir alle freuen uns sehr viel mit Dir zu rennen und hoffen bald bei der Rennpiste wieder zu treffen. Und vielen Dank für Deine nette Worten 🙂

Vote: Zehn!

Davide “Hereby Herbie” Ramo – First of all (and before Hall – ha ha) Davide wins the Wet Shirt Skin contest with his magnificent Herbie look. Please, do it again! After that, do we have to talk about the race? Fuelling his tank with Irish Coffee, Davide was tempted to take a sip every now and then until he got dried. Hic! (quote). In any case, Davide had his race ruined before since — [Ad time: buy Fisherman’s Friend and Toblerone, the choice of the racers!; Gianluca]

Vote: 10 liters more of Irish Coffee

Stefano Casamonti – The Purple Heart of racing, aka The Number 1 in Itself, didn’t show his best performance so far, but hey – as Dario said, everyone of us has to learn something from Stefano, especially in naming track corners. A race of fun as usual, see you soon Stefano!

Vote: Batistuta