THE LATE BRAKING ONLINE RACING LEAGUE: ROUND 10

After a thriller in Singapore, the championship lead switched hands once more as jackhicky17 (Jack Hickman) seized the advantage over NoobVaNatersch (Simone Bartolozzi) with The-Googles (Sam Sage) not that far behind. Additionally, Gilly203 (Daniel Gilligan) would be looking to build on his win last time out.

None of the aforementioned names would get on the front row in qualifying though as khanz007 (Zohaieb Khan) once again showed his blistering one-lap pace for his third pole position of the season. His brother BalaalKhan (Balaal Khan) was not too far behind in second with Bartolozzi rounding out the top 3. It was disaster for Hickman though as connectivity issues meant he was unable to set a lap and would start last.

The start was relatively clean as Z Khan was able to keep his lead from pressure behind him, Hickman got a fantastic start as he made up 7 place on the first lap alone. Meanwhile, there was a freak accident for CharliX67 (Charles Treiber) that ended with the Williams upside down. He was then able to make up one more place as Gilligan struggled for traction coming out of Vale which pushed him down to 10th.

Bartolozzi got very close to overtaking B Khan, but had trouble going into Vale, this allowed Sage the opportunity to move up to third. This was all before we got a safety car for the first time in the league, much to the dismay of Z Khan who had built a solid lead. This gave many drivers the opportunity to pit, most of which went for the soft tyres apart from Hickman on the mediums as he hoped to get to the end.

Disaster then struck for the Sauber of Sage as he lost connection and fell back through the order. Z Khan faced some pressure off the restart from Gilligan who also decided not to pit under the Safety Car, until Z Khan decided to go onto the same strategy as Hickman and go to the end of the race. Strategies were messed up once again though as the safety car made its second appearance in just 9 laps. Gilly, LOPEZ_MATIAS_FLY (Rusvelt Lopez) and B Khan all took the opportunity to pit which left Hickman in the lead after starting last.

Hickman led away championship rival Bartolozzi on the restart and maintained the lead, Gilligan soon joined the battle too as mere tenths separated the drivers. Gilligan then stuck a late braking move on Bartolozzi for second going into Brooklands, before he could challenge for 1st though, ANOTHER safety car made an appearance. Bartolozzi decided pitting was the right strategy call, but two penalties in one put him out of contention.

On the restart, Hickman once again held position well, but it wasn't so good for Gilligan as he lost a few places after running wide. This allowed Z Khan and Hickman to fight for the win out front.....until safety car number four! Both Haas drivers rolled the dice as they came in for new supersofts for the end of the race. The safety car peeled away with just a few laps to go and Z Khan and Hickman were left to continue the battle that was so rudely interrupted.

Carnage was ensuing behind though as PurplePetrol13 (Joshua Walford-Cook) and B Khan collided which led to the Mercedes hitting Gilligan. This mayhem allowed both Bartolozzi and Treiber to make up ground after previous issues. Two battles then dominated until the end of the race: Hickman vs Z Khan for the win and Bartolozzi vs Lopez for 3rd. Z Khan gave it everything he had, but ultimately couldn't reduce the gap to anything less than three tenths. Bartolozzi applied pressure to Lopez right until the end, but the Haas driver just about did enough to hold him off.

Hickman's win allows him to extend his advantage from 2 points to 27 with the first half of the season drawing to a close. Lopez's standing was helped considerably with a podium as he was able to leapfrog his teammate Gilligan and Treiber.

Make sure to check out the video at the top of the article and the standings below! Round 11 is from Abu Dhabi, the video will be released at the same time next week.

Hicky, Khanz and Lopez share the podium this week.

Hicky, Khanz and Lopez share the podium this week.

Hicky extends his advantage. Lopez and Khanz go ahead of CharliX67 and Gilly

Hicky extends his advantage. Lopez and Khanz go ahead of CharliX67 and Gilly

Just three points between the top three teams

Just three points between the top three teams