Laurel Crown

March 26

The only time I decided to NOT wake up to see the race live happens to be the one where Verstappen goes out and Ferrari takes the 1-2. Good thing I saw the rebroadcast with no spoiler and seeing the Red Bull on fire [literally] was cathartic xD

Other than that... race felt a bit boring. Sainz managed a perfect race whilst Leclerc tried his best to keep the pace from the McLarens.

Alonso pulled a real d**k-move in the end :/

March 10

F2 Feature Race was pretty well fought, ending in Enzo Fittipaldi getting the victory in front of Kush Maini and Dennis Hauger (getting 3rd at the last moment).
Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished 6th. Italian forums already criticize him for not getting a better position. In all fairness, the kid still need to grow as he skipped F3 right away and must learn how to brake properly... but ending in such a high placement is still worthy of praise for him.

F1 race, as always, was a Verstappen snore-fest. The only thing worth mentioning is Oliver Bearman placing 7th. Hands down the "Driver of the Day" in Jeddah. Racing for a prestigious team for two hours with a sore neck in the end in such a short notice was an insane scenario in itself... but the British kid managed to pull out an incredible race for someone still racing in the cadet league.

And now... obligatory FP1 Will comedy review

March 9

Dammit, I missed the qualifying for Jeddah and I had to see the results. From what I understood the race direction robbed Leclerc of a good time lap in Q1 and Bearman replaced Sainz for this Grand Prix.

Meanwhile F2 Sprint Race won by Verschoor and Andrea Kimi Antonelli scored his first point.

EDIT: Nevermind. Verschoor disqualified so the victory goes to the norwegian driver Dennis Hauger, followed up by Paul Aron and Enzo Fittipaldi.

March 6

I had to post it because it's too hilarious even for non-English speakers :Pip-giggle:

March 5

3 hours ago, ZiggWheelsManning said:

@Laurel Crown

Speed can be evil, but are you the right person to handle an F1 race car?

Of course not. I criticize but not Reddit-level of criticism. :derp:

All I'm saying is Leclerc seemed to have some serious misfortune left from 2023 as he was the only driver with braking issues (after Ferrari had to change a component last-minute) and, with the SF-24 looking very much improved over the previous year, people are hoping it won't happen again or there will be expecting another replay of Max dominating in almost every race.

March 2

Didn't watch F3 but the last three laps.

Formula 2 dominated by Zane Maloney yet a fun race nonetheless.

F1 race turned into the usual Max/Red Bull domination. It would have been a slightly interesting race if Leclerc hadn't problems with the braking that cost him important positions [and points]... but at least Ferrari seems to be confirmed as second force in the championship.

FP1Will review incoming

March 1

Formula 3 Sprint Race won by British youngster Arvin Lindblad after an intense battle that saw Nikola Tsolov and Laurens Van Hoepen dueling it out from start to finish, only for the former losing performance and finishing 4th while his companion come 2nd and Trident driver Leo Fornaroli picking up the lowest podium place. Dino Beganovic got his race jeopardized.

Formula 2 Sprint Race was a fun brawl to watch. Victory by Zane Maloney after a dominating performance. Nothing else to say for the Prema racers, they got into the sidelines where they had pit-stops so... my best guess is they'll focus more on the Feature race.

Qualifying went just as many would predict: balanced and well-fought until Mad Max gets the magic lap thanks to a slipstream he got before launching. Looks like we're ready for 2023 Pt.2

March 1

At least 100 persons, along Domenicali and Libery Media staff, received an anonymous email containing screenshots of an alleged Chris Horner Whatsapp chat.

Well... what an interesting way to kickoff the F1 season.

February 29

Reminder for everyone that the Bahrain F1 GP is anticipated by one day (Quali and F2/3 Sprint races on Friday and Feature Races on Saturday) as this Sunday begins Ramadan and it's considered a holy day.

Meanwhile have a comedy review

February 26

Capcom Cup X (Final Day; Top 16 to Grand Final)

Timestamps

Spoiler

Winners Quarter-Final
21:56 Phenom (Ken) Vs. Chris Wong (Luke)
34:10 DCQ (JP) Vs. Gachikun (Rashid)
51:13 Xian (Dee Jay) Vs. Leshar (Chun Li)
1:18:43 UMA (Juri) Vs. Kusanagi (Ken)

Losers Round 1
1:28:47 Kawano (Luke) Vs. Nephew (Juri)
1:45:37 NuckleDu (Guile) Vs. NL (Luke)
2:09:30 Fuudo (Dee Jay) Vs. MenaRD (Blanka/Luke)
2:25:25 Sayff (Ken) Vs. Dual Kevin (Luke)

Losers Round 2
2:39:58 Match #1
3:07:22 Match #2
3:24:11 Match #3
3:36:45 Match #4

Winners Semi-Final
3:59:46 Match #1
4:16:44 Match #1

Losers Round 3
4:37:44 Match #1
4:51:25 Match #2

Losers Quarter-Final
5:09:50 Match #1
5:28:55 Match #2

Winners Final
5:50:12

Losers Semi-Final
6:10:19

Losers Final
6:31:40

Grand Final
6:50:55

(Final) final thoughts

Spoiler

What a wild Top 16 to close out the Pro Tour with the biggest prize money in FGC history. Complete with the most upsetting results in recent years.
While we were a lot of top-tiers, mostly Luke being the standard of pro playing, we had a fair share of characters including a Chun-Li and even a Rashid, carried by possibly his best player in the world.

About the CPT itself, there's been a divide between those who liked the format and those who disliked it. Yeah, it managed to give a lot of players around the world the chance to play for the big leagues without worrying much about travel expenses but I can understand it wasn't the best in terms of "gatekeeping" as many pros failed to qualify by choking (Idom) or because they met their match against an unexpected prodigy (Punk or EndingWalker, even though he qualified with the regional World Warrior tournament) so a lot of these qualifiers ranged from "Fantastic" to "Boring" or "Meh". We'll see if Capcom will return to the point-ranking system for this Pro Tour.

And that's it for CPT. This thread didn't garner a lot of attention so I won't make another thread for 2024... but that's okay. It was more of a test run before going to the more well-known sports.

If you ever read this, you have my thanks :fluttershy:

February 24

Capcom Cup X (Day 3)

Timestamps

Spoiler

Pool A:
00:18:13 Shadoken (JP) vs JOE UMEROGAN (Luke)
00:26:10 Kawano (Luke) vs GGHalibel (Ken)
00:38:38 Phenom (Luke) vs Crossover (Dee Jay)
00:48:14 GGHalibel (Ken) vs Shadoken (JP)
01:04:23 Crossover (Dee Jay) vs Kawano (Luke)

Pool B:
01:22:24 DespairKing (Juri) vs Nephew (Juri)
01:31:04 Big Bird (Marisa) vs DestroyGodz (Guile)
01:37:28 shaka22 (Dhalsim) vs Chris Wong (Luke)
01:49:04 Destroy Godz (Guile) vs DespairKing (Juri)
01:58:14 Chris Wong (Luke) vs Big Bird (Marisa)

Pool C:
02:18:37 Mister Crimson (Dhalsim) vs Fandroid (Dee Jay)
02:26:31 Dookie (JP) vs Bravery (Cammy)
02:38:39 DCQ (JP) vs NuckleDu (Guile)
02:49:26 Bravery (Cammy) vs Mister Crimson (Dhalsim)
03:00:22 NuckleDu (Cammy) vs Dookie (Rashid)

Pool D:
03:28:36 NL (Luke) vs Valmaster (Kimberly)
03:35:44 Gachikun (Rashid) vs Mikex (Luke)
03:45:32 SolVNG (Luke) vs Takamura (Ken)
03:53:26 Mikex (Luke) vs NL (Luke)
04:03:44 Takamura (Ken) vs Gachikun (Rashid)

Pool E:
04:24:56 NamikazeExTM (Dee Jay) vs Myrken (Luke)
04:34:06 Samoel (Luke) vs Snake Eyez (Zangief)
04:40:40 Xian (Dee Jay) vs Fuudo (Dee Jay)
04:48:04 Snake Eyez (Zangief) vs NamikazeExTM (Dee Jay)
04:57:27 Fuudo (Dee Jay) vs Samoel (Luke)

Pool F:
05:13:15 Leshar (Chun-Li) vs Angry Bird (Ken)
05:24:46 NeroTheBoxer (Dee Jay) vs EndingWalker (Ryu)
05:35:22 Caba (Guile) vs MenaRD (JP)
05:42:45 EndingWalker (Dee Jay) vs Leshar (Chun-Li)
05:52:09 MenaRD (Luke) vs NeroTheBoxer (Dee Jay)

Pool G:
06:16:13 JUNINHO-RAS (Luke) vs Garnet (Dhalsim)
06:22:14 Sayff (Ken) vs UMA (Juri)
06:33:48 Rainpro (Guile) vs ROF (JP)
06:43:20 UMA (Juri) vs JUNINHO-RAS (Luke)
06:50:20 ROF (JP) vs Sayff (Ken)

Pool H:
07:10:13 Problem-X (Blanka) vs JabhiM (Chun-Li)
07:16:16 Kusanagi (Ken) vs Ren (Luke)
07:28:46 Dual Kevin (Luke) vs Travis Styles (Chun-Li)
07:43:31 Ren (Luke) vs Problem-X (Lilly)
07:51:00 Travis Styles (Chun-Li) vs Kusanagi (Ken)

February 23

Capcom Cup X (Day 2)

Timestamps

Spoiler

Pool A:
00:21:37 Phenom (Ken) vs Kawano (Luke)
00:33:59 JOE UMEROGAN (Luke) vs GGHalibel (Ken)
00:43:53 Shadoken (JP) vs Crossover (Ken)
00:55:24 Kawano (Luke) vs JOE UMEROGAN (Luke)
01:09:08 GGHalibel (Ken) vs Phenom (Ken)

Pool B:
01:30:30 shaka22 (Dhalsim) vs Big Bird (Rashid)
01:40:59 Nephew (Juri) vs DestroyGodz (Guile)
01:47:55 DespairKing (Juri) vs Chris Wong (Luke)
01:55:54 Big Bird (Marisa) vs Nephew (Juri)
02:04:36 DestroyGodz (Guile) vs shaka22 (Dhalsim)

Pool C:
02:24:30 DCQ (JP) vs Dookie (JP)
02:33:34 Fandroid (Dee Jay) vs Bravery (Cammy)
02:43:22 Mister Crimson (Dhalsim) vs NuckleDu (Cammy)
02:51:37 Dookie (Rashid) vs Fandroid (Dee Jay)
02:59:10 Bravery (Cammy) vs DCQ (JP)

Pool D:
03:15:46 SolVNG (Luke) vs Gachikun (Rashid)
03:23:18 Valmaster (JP) vs Mikex (Luke)
03:34:21 NL (Luke) vs Takamura (Ken)
03:42:32 Gachikun (Rashid) vs Valmaster (Kimberly)
03:51:38 Mikex (Luke) vs SolVNG (Luke)

Pool E:
04:08:45 Xian (Dee Jay) vs Samoel (Luke)
04:15:54 Myrken (Luke) vs Snake Eyez (Zangief)
04:25:03 NamikazeExTM (Dee Jay) vs Fuudo (Dee Jay)
04:36:57 Samoel (Luke) vs Myrken (Luke)
04:46:09 Snake Eyez (Zangief) vs Xian (Dee Jay)

Pool F:
05:09:58 Caba (Guile) vs NeroTheBoxer (Dee Jay)
05:19:28 Angry Bird (Ken) vs EndingWalker (Dee Jay)
05:31:33 Leshar (Chun-Li) vs MenaRD (Blanka)
05:41:50 NeroTheBoxer (Dee Jay) vs Angry Bird (Ken)
05:51:01 EndingWalker (Dee Jay) vs Caba (Guile)

Pool G:
06:10:02 Rainpro (Guile) vs Sayff (Ken)
06:16:30 Garnet (Dhalsim) vs UMA (Juri)
06:29:21 JUNINHO-RAS (Luke) vs ROF (JP)
06:42:02 Sayff (Ken) vs Garnet (Dhalsim)
06:49:30 UMA (Juri) vs Rainpro (Guile)

Pool H:
07:10:30 Dual Kevin (Luke) vs kusanagi (Ken)
07:17:55 JabhiM (Dee Jay) vs Ren (Luke)
07:30:32 Problem-X (Blanka) vs Travis Styles (Chun-Li)
07:38:42 Kusanagi (Ken) vs JabhiM (Dee Jay)
07:46:48 Ren (Luke) vs Dual Kevin (Rashid)

February 22

Capcom Cup X (Day 1)

Timestamps

Spoiler

Group A:
00:24:15 Shadoken (JP) vs Kawano (Luke)
00:33:46 Joe Umerogan (Luke) vs Phenom (Ken)
00:42:28 GGhalibel (Ken) vs Crossover (Dee Jay)
00:55:58 Phenom (Ken) vs Shadoken (JP)
01:02:20 Crossover (Dee Jay) vs Joe Umerogan (Luke)

Group B:
01:24:25 DespairKing (Juri) vs Big Bird (Rashid)
01:34:31 Nephew (Juri) vs shaka22 (Dhalsim)
02:06:48 Destroy Godz (Luke) vs Chris Wong (JP)
01:47:38 shaka22 (Ken) vs DespairKing (Luke)
01:58:27 Chris Wong (Ken) vs Nephew (Luke)

Group C:
02:30:01 Mister Crimson (Dhalsim) vs Dookie (Rashid)
02:41:28 Fandroid (Dee Jay) vs DCQ (JP)
02:50:01 Bravery (Cammy) vs NuckleDu (Guile)
02:58:07 DCQ (JP) vs Mister Crimson (Dhalsim)
03:10:23 NuckleDu (Guile) vs Fandroid (Dee Jay)

Group D:
03:28:36 NL (Luke) vs Gachikun (Rashid)
03:40:15 Valmaster (Chun-Li) vs SolVNG (Luke)
03:51:43 Mikex (Luke) vs Takamura (Ken)
04:01:15 SolVNG (Luke) vs NL (Luke)
04:13:35 Takamura (Ken) vs Valmaster (Chun-Li)

Group E:
04:33:40 NamikazeExTM (Dee Jay) vs Samoel (Luke)
04:45:50 Myrken (Luke) vs Xian (Dee Jay)
04:55:03 Snake Eyez (Zangief) vs Fuudo (Dee Jay)
05:03:25 Xian (Dee Jay) vs NamikazeExTM (Dee Jay)
05:14:08 Fuudo (Dee Jay) vs Myrken (JP)

Group F:
05:34:10 Leshar (Chun-Li) vs NeroTheBoxer (Dee Jay)
05:42:59 Angry Bird (Ken) vs Caba (Guile)
05:51:44 EndingWalker (Ryu) vs MenaRD (Luke)
06:09:16 Caba (Guile) vs Leshar (Chun-Li)
06:18:23 MenaRD (Luke) vs Angry Bird (Ken)

Group G:
06:41:15 JUNINHO-RAS (Dhalsim) vs Sayff (Juri)
06:52:30 Garnet (Dhalsim) vs Rainpro (Guile)
07:03:06 UMA (Juri) vs ROF (JP)
07:10:46 Rainpro (Guile) vs JUNINHO-RAS (Luke)
07:21:56 ROF (JP) vs Garnet (Dhalsim)

Group H:
07:44:01 Problem-X (Blanka) vs Kusanagi (Ken)
07:52:26 JabhiM (Dee Jay) vs Dual Kevin (Luke)
08:01:01 Ren (Luke) vs Travis Styles (Chun-Li)
08:07:09 Dual Kevin (Rashid) vs Problem-X (Blanka)
08:19:26 Travis Styles (Dee Jay) vs JabhiM (Chun-Li)

February 19

I was busy at a local comic-con so I struggled to keep with the Swedish Rally.

Esapekka Lappi wins it, making it the second WRC rally to win in his career. Neuville still on the lead but with a very short gap from Elfyn Evans. Good performance from Fourmaux.
Hometown hero Oliver Solberg wins the WRC2 category by a landslide.

February 19

Last Chance Qualifier (Top 16)

Timestamps Top 16

Spoiler

Top 16: Winners Quarter-Final (⚠️Top 8 next comment)
28:00 Tokido (Ken) Vs. John Takeuchi (Rashid)
40:08 Punk (Cammy) Vs Yamaguchi (Dee Jay)
48:00 Kakeru (JP) Vs. JB (Rashid)
1:12:00 Problem X (Blanka) Vs. Julio Fuentes (JP)

Losers Round 1
1:24:00 NoahTheProdigy (Luke )Vs Zhen (Dee Jay)
1:30:21 Vxbao (JP) Vs. ACQUA (JP)
1:48:00 Hibiki (Lily) Vs. RUNDUMB (Manon)
1:58:25 Moke (Chun Li) Vs. Nemo (JP)

Losers Round 2
2:05:30 Match #1
2:21:50 Match #2
2:32:40 Match #3
2:39:25 Match #4

Timestamps Top 8

Spoiler

2:57:42 Winners Semifinal #1
3:13:17 Winners Semifinal #2
3:38:18 Losers R1 #1
3:48:55 Losers R1 #2
4:13:20 Losers Quarterfinal #1
4:28:00 Losers Quarterfinal #2
4:52:51 Winners Final
5:02:30 Losers Semifinal
5:25:34 Losers Final
5:37:47 Grand Final

Final thoughts

Spoiler

That. Was. Wild!
Some of the BEST players in the world fighting it out for the last shot at the Capcom Cup. The Top 8 probably had some of the craziest fights overall, particularly the first Quarterfinal, and saw a lot more character variety than most qualifiers in an already "Luke-inflated" tournament.
See you all for the final week of this thread.

February 16

Expect me to post FP1Will videos since I love him and his "no holds barred" style of humor.

Rally Sweden Day 1 & 2 highlights

Man... the big favorites already down?

February 15

Capcom Cup group stages are out

Spoiler

Group F confirmed to be the "death group" of the tournament and the most stacked one. Garnet will need to look out for UMA and Rainpro.

February 15

Rally Sweden has begun

February 13

not gonna lie, that is a sick introduction

February 11

Formula 3 Driver Grid

Spoiler

CDN media

Once again, I'll be Prema-centered: Dino Beganovic because he's Ferrari alumni and Minì for being my compatriot along with Fornaroli.

February 9

12 hours ago, ZiggWheelsManning said:

Those are lots of interesting names for racers

Speaking of which: I love how the Antonelli family gave their son Kimi as the second name as a tribute to Raikkonen, given how middle names are entirely optional in Italy :Pip-giggle:

February 7

I found a really nifty drivers' grid for this year's F2

Spoiler

CDN media

My bets will be on Prema Racing because one is a Ferrari alumni (Bearman; hoping to see major improvement this year) and Kimi Antonelli, an Italian with lots of promise. I gloss over him being a racer for Mercedes because I always root for my country first.

February 1

I forgot the highlights reel for the WRC Montecarlo Rally

Rally Recap

Spoiler

Quite a shame Ott Tanak had his rally jeopardized by the black ice. Thankfully Neuville is one of my picks for championship contention so that's a start lol

56 minutes ago, Spark Thunderbass said:

Also, I saw that Lewis Hamilton news just a hour ago, the problem is though, he’s mostly been out of form after the 2021 season, so I wonder if whether or not the move to Ferrari will be a big difference to him?

Never say never. I still remember Vettel being in a depressive state during the last years in Ferrari and he got in tip-top shape (racing-wise) when he drove for AM.
The real question is who's gonna be first driver between him and Leclerc since he's locked for the Cavallino for a looong time.

February 1

On 2024-01-27 at 2:44 PM, Spark Thunderbass said:

As it stands right now I am waiting for the V8 Supercars and NASCAR seasons to kick off soon.

Hopefully this year’s V8 Supercars season isn’t as one sided as last year considering the disparity between the Mustang and Camaro in which no one was happy about. I’m a Ford fan BTW.

NASCAR should be good to watch too, although, it is quite a shame that the Auto Club Speedway in California is all but demolished in favour of some short track that no one will probably give a crap about.

I can add the V8 and NASCAR if you want. Unfortunately I can't watch them because they do not broadcast in my country.

Kicking off the second month of Motorsport with the sensational news of Lewis Hamilton going to Ferrari next year
https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/13061245/lewis-hamilton-to-join-ferrari-for-2025-formula-1-season