WBC 2024 Report
Over three days at WBC, 26 drivers competed to qualify for the finals on day 4. Attendance was solid this year but schedule conflicts made for lighter attendance in heats 2 and 3, which resulted in only two tracks that day instead of three, making the competition tighter on those days. The final this year was a photo finish. As the flag went down there were three drivers who all crossed the finish line together, but after the film was analyzed, it was Jason Schultz who inched out the victory and went home with his first WBC win.
We raced seven tracks over three days of qualifying. Day one saw us racing on Midrand (the finals track from last year), Watkin's Glen, and Yeongam. Day two was Sao Paolo and Montreal, tracks that favored a race from the front strategy. The final qualifying heat included tracks where racing from the back held its highest advantage: Imola and Castellet.
The Finals track this year was Zandvoort, an interesting track which is 3-wide for most of it, except a small 2-wide section just after the first corner. In the back half of the track it widens again and speeds up considerably, such that the last three corners are all quite fast.
Fleckenstein, Mossman, Tatum, Keller, and Long all took their 100 start speed cars and pushed right through the opening corner to form Lead pack. Behind them the peleton was made up by Schultz, Polcen, Cornett, Kennington, and Haskell. Finally, relishing the clean air at the back and waiting for their moment to attack, followed Klepaczyk and Aubuchon.
Through most of the first lap, the Lead pack fought with each other. Fleckenstein and Mossman traded the lead back and forth while Keller and Long fought for the inside position. Tatum initially did well, but was ultimately forced to fall back slowly on the long straights because of his lower top speed.
Lap 2 saw the most position shake-ups and was really the setup for the latter half of the race. Fleckenstein broke his brakes, which forced him to fall back and stop fighting Mossman. Long managed to outmaneuver Keller into the second corner, which allowed him to speed away and chase down Mossman. Schultz caught up to Keller and began fighting him for position. By the end of the second lap, Long had passed by Mossman and was in the lead heading into the final lap.
Back in the peloton, Cornett, Kennington, Polcen, Haskell, and Klepaczyk all traded slips and positions down the track, but never quite broke away from each other to contend with the chase pack. By the start of lap three, it was getting pretty desperate, which wound up forcing a number of drivers to make risky maneuvers. There was more than one forced pass through a corner while also rolling on the chance table. Kennington in particular seemed to never let go of the dice.
Spending the last of his wear, Long drove hot through the first two corners of Lap 3 and sped away from the rest of the racers. He was a turn ahead of everyone else and looking at clean air in front of him. Mossman and Schultz were behind him and still looking to chase him down though. Behind them, Polcen was forced into another risky maneuver to get around the slower cars in the race. He ultimately made the forced pass and found himself with clean air and a chance to catch up to the chase pack.
Heading into the final corner, Long was forced to slow down while the chase pack started nipping his heels. Schultz made it through the corner only one space behind Long. Mossman attempted to stay on Long's bumper with a chance roll, but the dice went against him and he crashed. Polcen had the same opportunity Mossman was given, and the dice were with him again. And with a slip from Schultz, Polcen got that extra push to make contact with Long.
Long was now pushed into a no-win scenario. Schultz could overplot to 200 and push by him as they cross the line. If Long pushed his accel and top speed to 180 he could beat Schultz, but that just meant he was instead handing the win to Polcen, who would be able to double-slip right past both of them. In the end, Long decided to forego the dice and put his fate in a single roll. Schultz pushed his car successfully and was able to claim victory.
It was an excellent and exciting race right up to the finish. Congratulations to all participants, and Jason Schultz in particular for his first finals win at WBC.