The Finale of ERL Season 2 occurs this Saturday at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Brazil. Zalan holds the lead in the championship over defending champion Michael coming into this race, Zalan has capitalised best when Michael has had off days to lead by 19 points coming into Brazil.

Zalan has 4 wins this season, taking maximum points from Singapore, Russia, Canada and Belgium, with Michael claiming 3 wins: Australia, Hungary and Britain.

Michael started the season well, taking a 17 point lead over Zalan after the first two races. Russia was the first of the turning points, where Michael made contact with his teammate and finished 6th, while Zalan won, allowing him to score 17 more points than Michael, which after the win in Singapore the week before, gave him the lead in the championship. Michael attempted to recover, but contact again with Stanley this time in Canada saw him Retire, Zalan went on to win that race, giving him a big advantage in the title race. 

It may be a outside chance for Michael to win the title, but in order to do so he MUST WIN in Brazil, and hope that Zalan finishes 7th or lower to win the title. As 7th for Zalan would mean a tie, but Michael would win the title on an unbelievable countback of most 4th places, as both drivers would be level on wins, 2nds and 3rds  place positions, which shows just how evenly matched they have been all season.

Michael can only do his best to win, Zalan has it all to lose. Tune in at 5pm UK Time on July 22nd to find out which driver takes home the title, will it be Zalan or Michael?

Circuit de Spa-Fracorchamps hosted the Penultimate Round of the ERL Season.
Zalan held a 9 point lead over defending Champion Michael coming into the race, meaning both drivers were eager to perform at their best. Michael and his Teammate Max were also keen to gain ground in the Constructors Title due to the absence of Zalan's teammate, Kovis.

Intermediate Conditions greeted the Drivers in Qualifying, with the track getting gradually faster towards the end of the session. Michael sent a powerful message and qualified fastest, with Zalan second. Max, Louis and Lamb Chop completed the Top 5 and were the last of the Drivers to break under the 2 minute mark.

The race was initially full of issues, with Drivers going off, topped off by the lobby completely Crashing on Lap 8, meaning a Restart of the Race behind the Safety Car was the only option.

The restart proved a disaster for Max, Who lost it on the exit of Pouhon and veered straight into the wall, losing his left front wheel and denying Renault a possible 1-2.  A few Drivers were unable to make the restart due to other commitments, and as a result this left just 7 drivers after Max's retirement. A 7 which split into 2 parts. Michael, Zalan and Louis pulled away from the rear field of Danny, Mark, Johnny and Jondigweed. The front 3 had gained such a lead that when they made the change from Full Wets to Intermediates, Michael was back in the lead by the end of the first sector. With the second half of the field pitting a lap later. 

Zalan took the lead on Lap 10, breezing past Michael on the Kemmel Straight, and the order stayed as it was until Michael and Zalan pitted for frest intermediates on Lap 14 and 15 respectively, allowing Louis to take the lead of the Race. Zalan stayed infront of Michael as the pair of them pushed to catch Louis, who was staying out to the end of the race. Zalan and Michael were right on each other at the end, but Michael could not get past Zalan.

Louis' tyres faded off at the end of the race, but he still crossed the line first. He was demoted to second after a corner cutting penalty was added to his race time. Allowing Zalan to take the win. Michael had to settle for 3rd meaning the gap was now 19 points coming into the Finale in Brazil, meaning Zalan has almost secured the title. But to quote the words of Murray Walker "Anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does!" Brazil could still hold many surprises yet!

We are 6 Rounds in to ERL Season 2, and Round 7 brings us to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Notre Dame Island in Canada.

The 2.747 miles Circuit hosted a fantastic race in Season 1, with both the title contenders Cliffy and Michael finishing 1st and 2nd, with only 2 seconds between them. Michael is again in a title fight this season, however he has a new threat. The Hungarian PzalanHUN has shown tremendous pace this season, winning 2 races back to back in Singapore and Russia, and he now trails Michael by just 14 points coming into this race.

The early pace of the weekend comes from Michael's Renault team-mate Max, who put in a record time of a 1:11.0 in a practice run earlier in the week, albeit with the help of a slipstream from his team-mate. Without that, his pace is similar to Zalan, with both drivers setting clean times of 1:11.2's. Michael is a little way off, with a best of a 1:11.4.

The question now for the Race is who will win? Zalan, Max and Michael are the favourites, but as we have seen from previous races this season, anything is possible. Max will want to build on being the only Driver to finish every race, and will also have his eyes set on the top step of the podium for the first time this season. Michael and Zalan will have their eyes set on each other and the title. Could their attention be so distracted that it allows us to see a new name on the top step of the podium? Tune in on July 1st, 5PM UK Time to find out!

After a 1 week break at the mid-point in the season, we moved to Silverstone, the home of many drivers on the ERL grid for Round 6. 

The One-Stop around here is powerful, due to a 30 second pit-stop delta. A high majority of Drivers chose to qualify on the Harder Medium tyres, in order to make the One-Stop possible. The Renaults led the way with a 1-2, with Max securing his 3rd Pole Position in 4 races with a 1:30.259, his teammate Michael less than a tenth behind in 2nd. Zalan took 3rd with Freakplus 4th. Only Danny and Kattguld in the Top 10 qualified on Soft tyres.

The returning Kimicool was hit into turn 1 by LambChop from 5th, sending him into a spin and down to the back of the field.

Michael took the lead from his teammate on Lap 4, and he kept it until Kattguld's retirement brought out the Safety Car on Lap 6. Max was the only Driver out of the front-runners to not stop for fresh tyres, with some of the braver in the field pitting for Hard tyres in the hope of taking them to the end. Michael and Freakplus were 2 of these. Once the Safety Car came in, Michael went to tyre saving mode, lapping a good distance slower than would be expected of him to ensure his tyres lasted to the end. This allowed Max to gain a lead out front and when he pitted on Lap 12, he wasn't too far behind the field. Michael took the lead, however he had a train now following him, consisting of GFP, Dan, Johnny and Mark.

GFP was the only one of these to not Pit again, he sat behind Michael patiently, waiting for either mistake or an opportunity to overtake, as he was also tyre saving. Michael did not crack though and took his 3rd win of the season and claims the Championship Lead back off Zalan, who finished a disappointing 8th after a huge crash with dougie after the Safety Car period effectively ended his race. GFP finished a strong Second, with Max finishing 3rd after everyone else pitted late on. Michael now has a 14 point lead coming into the next round in Canada,  with yet another exciting 2-way title battle unfolding!

Round 5 of the ERL Calendar took us to Russia and the Sochi Autodrome, it also meant we were now at the half way point of what has already been an incredibly exciting season so far.

A Dry Weekend and a comfortable 1 stop in the race meant it was a flat out battle for Pole. Maxytee set the first benchmark lap with a 1:35.9, but he was unable to improve for the remainder of the session, meaning he qualified 5th. Singapore winner Zalan set the Pole Position lap, beating Michael by just 0.06 seconds, MaxiLuca qualified 3rd and Georgalis took an impressive 4th in only his 2nd race in F1.

Michael lost a lot of time into Turn 2, after slight contact with Georgalis and MaxiLuca. Allowing Zalan and MaxiLuca to take a lead, especially after georgalis was in the wall out of Turn 5. Malie started brilliantly and found himself in 3rd place. The Renault pair of Maxytee and Michael were now locked in a battle for 4th, which ended prematurely after Michael was seemingly squeezed between his teammate and the wall just before Turn 6, leaving Michael with damage. While the Renault's were battling, Maxi snatched the lead from Zalan and looked to seemingly pull away from the Red Bull Driver. The contact between the Renault's put them under pressure from F2 Promotees Mark and Kattguld, making it a 4 way fight, reducing to 3 once an attempted divebomb from Kattguld didn't go to plan.

By the first round of Stops Zalan was right on the back of Maxi, and Maxi pitted, attempting to undercut Zalan. It was unsuccessful however, Zalan emerged from his pitstop infront and in the net lead of the race. Malie was infront however and was not letting his position go easily. Another battle began between Zalan and Maxi, with Malie included as well. Zalan put Malie between himself and Maxi, and Maxi ended up in the wall in the Second DRS straight in his attempts to keep up.

The Safety Car was brought out with HiHaHo leading, and everyone switching to Supersoft tyres to take to the end. Malie took the lead into turn 2, before conceding the lead to Zalan towards the end of the lap.

Zalan, Malie and Georgalis traded the lead between each other constantly until the end. Malie crossed the finish line in 1st position, but a Corner Cutting Penalty dropped him to 2nd, and allowed Zalan to take his Second consecutive victory, and really show his title challenge.

Georgalis completed the podium to take 3rd. XDANT02X took 4th place for McLaren while Michael finished down in 6th and Maxytee out of the points.

This blows the title race wide open, as we go into a 1 week break before the British Grand Prix on June 24th!

Round 4 of the ERL season took us to the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore for the longest race on the Calendar.With 3 drivers leaving ERL prior to the race taking place, 3 drivers from F2 were promoted in their place, with Georgalis and HiHaHo replacing Bugatti and Likkle, and Kattguld returning to F1 in place of Lewis.

With the 1-stop being the ideal strategy for the race, everybody was sprinting out on Ultrasoft tyres to set the fastest lap possible. The early pace in qualifying was traded between Zalan, Falcan and Parkway. It was no surprise to see these 3 at the top of the qualifying standings at the end, with Falcan taking pole on a 1:39.7, Parkway qualified 2nd and Zalan 3rd, Michael posted a sloppy lap that put him 4th before a throttle issue with his wheel sent him in the wall and prematurely ended his qualifying session.

Louis and Georgalis appeared to get early start sequences, allowing them to be up with the top 3 off the line. Zalan dropped to 5th as a result, while Louis started to battle Falcan for the lead, he was successful and by the time the drivers got to the Singapore sling, Louis was leading. Newly promoted Georgalis showed his pace to climb to second, before contact with Louis sent him spinning into turn 3. Occasional battles for 2nd and 4th commenced behind Louis who lead, until a mistake saw him go straight on coming into the tunnel section, dropping him back numerous positions, which allowed Parkway to take the lead, with the Renault's of Falcan and Michael behind. 

Zalan pitted early to change his tyres, hoping to gain an undercut advantage on the guys infront. This undercut worked as he was ahead of Michael, Falcan and Pakway after their pitstops. With only LambChop and HiHaHo infront of him, both of whom had started on harder compound tyres. Zalan was now leading on Lap 19 after everybody had made their pitstops, allowing him to lead the field when the Safety Car came out on Lap 23, allowing everyone to pit for Ultrasofts to the end. Zalan lead from LambChop who didn't need to change tyres during the SC, with Michael in 3rd, however LambChop picked up front wing damage of the back of Zalan under the Safety Car, allowing Zalan to pull away when the SC eventually came in. Michael overtook LambChop on Lap 28, and had just over 3 laps to try and close the gap to Zalan.

It came down to the final lap, Zalan was defending from the Renault of Michael to desperately hold on for the win, and he succeeded. Crossing the line first to claim his first win of the season, with a gap of just 2 tenths of a second to Michael. HiHaHo defended well from Malie and Falcan to take a podium on his F1 debut.

3 different drivers have now won in the 4 ERL races so far this season, next up we travel to Russia. Could it be 4 in 5? Find out on Saturday June 10th at 5pm UK time!

Bank Holiday Weekend in the UK brought us to Austria. And a Dry Weekend meant a change from what we were used to in the previous 2 races.

The Bank Holiday Weekend meant the turnout was a little disappointing, with only 12 drivers turning up, 10 of those setting qualifying laps. Falcan proved the quickest, getting Pole with a 1:07.1, Pubstar qualified second with Hellboy 3rd.

A seeming desynched start meant Falcan got away well, while Hellboy lost time to the cars behind. Michael climbed up to 3rd and pressurised Pubstar for P2, while a severely lagging Bugatti caused carnage for the cars further back. Michael worked his way past Pubstar just before the VSC came out on Lap 5. Falcan pitted under the VSC, allowing him to change his strategy and get a cheap pitstop. Michael and LambChop crashed on the run to turn 2, promoting GFP to 1st and Dougie to 2nd. Malie went deep overtaking Dougie for 2nd, and lost the position again. He finally got the move done 2 laps later. Falcan was staying patiently behind Dougie and Malie, waiting for them to pit, until a lapped Bugatti ignored Yellow Flags and sent Falcan round, with Damage as well. Bugatti was again a cause of an incident when championship leader Michael DNF'd after making contact with the Force India driver while trying to lap him also. These incidents saw Bugatti hit with a 3 Race-ban for causing multiple severe avoidable collisions. This brought the Safety Car out, GFP had already pitted, however Malie and Dougie hadn't, allowing them to get a free pitstop, the rest of the field all changed for fresh tyres too, in the hope of taking them to the end of the Race.

The field now stood: Malie 1st, Dougie 2nd, GFP 3rd and Falcan 4th as the Safety Car came in, we now had an 11 lap battle to the chequered flag. GFP unfortunately had to serve a Drive-Through Penalty once the Safety Car came in, leaving him at the back of the field. Bugatti again came to interrupt the race, holding up all of the Front-Runners, Falcan took the advantage and now lead the race again, but his Soft tyres meant he was unable to get an advantage. Malie and Dougie crashed out of turn 4, ending their titanic battle. This promoted Pubstar and LambChop to 2nd and 3rd, with the tyre compound advantage on Falcan. 

Pubstar took the lead on Lap 34, with him seemingly having the race won. Falcan crossed the line first, ahead of Pubstar. However Falcan's desynched start and a corner cutting penalty for Pubstar allowed LambChop to take his maiden ERL win. Falcan finished 2nd and Pubstar was 3rd. 

Next up is Singapore, where Season 1 produced an excellent race. Can this be repeated next week? Tune in to find out.

Round 2 of ERL Season 2 saw us travel to Hungary. After Michael started his title defence with a win in Australia, the pressure was on him to make it 2 in a row. 

Once again rain was scheduled for the race, just like in Australia, however this time qualifying was dry, with everyone setting the best lap they could on Supersofts to be at the front of the grid.

The Renault pairing looked strongest in qualifying, with Michael taking Pole and Falcan 3rd, separated by the Sauber of Louis. Then came the Red Bull pairing of Zalan and Tusz, both of whom were racing at their home GP.

Michael and Zalan got away well off the line, Zalan went past Falcan and was alongside Louis coming into Turn 2, before a lack of grip saw him drift onto the grass and lost him some time. 

An incident for Jake on Lap 5 saw the Safety Car come out, allowing some Drivers to pit for repairs, but also neutralising the gap Michael and Louis had made out front. Louis briefly led the race after he overtook Michael at the Safety Car restart, only for Michael to take the lead back 2 laps later, with Hellboy sitting just behind them. The front 3 extended their gap to the rest of the field, before Michael cranked the engine up and pulled away from Louis and Hellboy. The pit-stop window shuffled things round, however. Louis received a drive-through for speeding into the pit-lane, promoting Hellboy to 2nd place, and Louis dropping to 9th after serving his penalty. 

Michael was not to be caught from this point on, going on to claim back to back wins to show everybody that he wants another title. Hellboy finished in an ERL best 2nd place, and Zalan completed the podium at his home race. Retirements for Jake, Dan and Danner and a Disqualification for Tusz made up the non-classified runners in what was an exciting race.
Next we move to Austria, where the prospect of dry running isn't high. Can Michael extend his Championship lead? Or can somebody else show their Championship credentials? Tune in on May 27th to find out!

Everybody was eagerly anticipating the start of ERL Season 2 in Australia. With only 4 drivers missing for the race, there were 16 people all hoping to start of their season with a bang. Rain throughout both Qualifying and Race meant Race Strategy was almost thrown out of the window, and qualifying was a matter of getting the best track conditions.

The early Qualifying pace was being set by defending champion Michael, Mexico winner Zalan and USA winner Falcan. With it being Intermediate conditions all the way through qualifying, massive improvements weren't expected. It was Zalan however who came out on top in Qualifying, putting his Red Bull on Pole with a time of 1:36.257. F2 promotee MaxiLuca denied Michael a spot on the front row, Likkle also impressed, putting his Force India in 4th.

Heavy Rain conditions met the Drivers on the Grid, with the prospect of Intermediate conditions later on. Zalan started well, getting away from the pack, Maxi held off Michael into turn 1 and Tusz climbed his way to 4th. The Force India pair of Likkle and Bugatti made contact coming into turn 3, spinning Bugatti into the path of a helpless Falcan, resulting in both of them trying to empty their cars of gravel. Michael found a way past Maxi early on, with Maxi also allowing his teammate Hellboy through to try and attack the defending champion. The front 4 maintained their positions until Lap 8, when Bugatti retired, bringing out a VSC, right before the crossover point for intermediate tyres. Most of the front runners were unable to pit under VSC due to them having just passed the pit lane, Johnny however took the risk and went in for Intermediates. Michael dived in to the pits on Lap 9 along with numerous others. Zalan however stayed out on track an extra lap, which cost him the lead. Johnny's call for Inters moved him from 9th to 3rd, but was losing time to the leading pair.
The Safety Car came out on Lap 13 for a seemingly unknown reason, bunching up the field again. Michael and Zalan battled it out at the restart, while contact between Johnny and Hellboy sent Johnny in a spin and down to last place. 
It was a straight battle to the end with no drivers needing to pit again. Michael held off a determined Zalan to win and kick off his title defense with a victory, while Hellboy drove his Williams to an impressive 3rd, his first podium in ERL.

With only 10 races in this season the pressure is on even more to get good results, tune in to ERL Commentary at 5pm UK for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Round 2 of ERL Season 2!

The new season of ERL begins with a trip to Australia, around the 3.296 mile street circuit built around Albert Park in Melbourne.

The teams look more competitive than ever coming into the new season, with every team fielding a strong lineup, leaving us with an intense level of intrigue and unknown.
Cliffy took the win here last season to kick start what proved to be a titanic title battle, while eventual championship winner Michael Did Not Finish after a collision with GFP, who finished 2nd in the race.

Pre-Season testing threw in some interesting results, with Michael and MaxiLuca showing the early pace and proving that they are the Drivers to beat this season. Anything is possible however, as there is 10 races in the season and 20 drivers who will all be looking to get their hands on the coveted Driver's title.

Can Michael claim a win to kickstart his title defense? Could Gamingfreakplus improve on his second place from last season and take a win? Who will be the first to crack under pressure? Which team will come out as strongest? And who will be the first to take to the top step of the podium in ERL? Tune-in to ERL Commentary at 5PM GMT tomorrow (Saturday 13th May) to find out!

With our Driver lineups confirmed for Season 2 of ERL and Pre-Season over and done with, it has become harder and harder to decide on the winner of the Driver's and Constructor's Championships.
Defending Champion michaelangelo779 comes into the season as the favourite, but there are many Drivers who have the capability of taking Michael's crown away from him. Season 1 race winners Jake, Zalan, Falcan, Lewis and Dougie will be hoping to claim more wins in Season 2, and the new promotees from F2: Maxi; Dan; LambChop; Danner; Louis; Dougie and Pubstar will be looking to show that they deserve to be in F1 for this season. Maxi, LambChop and Danner showing their strengths in Pre-Season with 1st, 3rd and 4th between them.

All the teams look strong too, with no obvious difference in abilities between each teams Driver lineups. Can Mercedes defend the title at the hands of Jake and Danner? Can Michael get another Constructor's title in the Renault with Falcan? Or can the other teams come to give us an interesting battle?

Every Driver has the capability for podiums and Race wins this season, tune in to coverage of the Season Opener in Australia to see which drivers and teams have the early advantage in the race to the title.

With ARL now becoming ERL and every single team having a changed Driver lineup, a Pre-Season event was held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday May 6th, consisting of a 45 minute Practice Session, as well as the usual Qualifying and Race we would see in every other Race Weekend. This was so all of the drivers could get used to their new cars and team-mates, it also allowed us to get an early indication as to which Drivers and Teams have the pace coming into the new Season which starts in Australia on Saturday.

Practice was as expected, with Drivers starting on the Hardest Compound tyre, eventually switching to the Softer tyres as the track rubbered in. The pace shown was very good, with the Top 3 separated by just 0.039 seconds, with Defending Champion Michael setting the fastest time ahead of Maxi and Michael's new teammate, Falcan.

The early pace in qualifying was set by Louis, who was promoted from F2 last season, setting a 1:20.9 on the Medium tyres before improving to a 1:20.0 on the Softs, a lap which seemed unbeatable with Zalan, Tusz, Maxi, GFP and others all falling short of Louis' time. Louis kept his P1 until Michael put in an absolute stormer of a lap with a 1:19.814 which secured him the Pole Position. Louis' attempts to improve were not successful and he lined up 2nd. Zalan was 3rd fastest, but a Grid Penalty from Practice left him down in 8th, promoting his team-mate Tusz into 3rd.

Michael's Pole Position did not serve him as well as he'd hoped however, as he was forced into a wide line into turn 1 by Louis and the fast starting Maxi. This fired Maxi up into the lead, Louis kept 2nd, and Michael dropped to 3rd, with Tusz and GFP behind him. Maxi and Louis were trading the Lead between them every single Lap, with Michael waiting behind to potentially capitalise on any mistakes they made. Louis made an undercut on Lap 5 to change tyres, only for the Safety Car to come out as he was entering the pit-lane, which seemingly handed the advantage in the race to him. Louis however made a mistake by making contact with the Safety Car, meaning he had to pit again and tumbled down positions, giving Maxi the lead of the race again.

The Safety Car came in on Lap 9, and Michael was desperate to pass Maxi for the Lead. Maxi defended his lead brilliantly, denying Michael on numerous occassions. Michael finally got past on Lap 14, but only for Maxi to take the lead back again on the very next lap. This pattern continued for a few laps until Maxi started to extend a gap to Michael, meaning Michael tried to undercut in order to have any chance of taking the lead back. Maxi stretched his Hard tyres as late as possible to switch to Soft tyres to the end, he rejoined behind Michael after his pitstop, but he was flying to catch up on the Soft tyres, he performed an excellent overtake on Michael on Lap 30 and drove away to win the Pre-season race, showing that he could be a Championship contender for Season 2. 
Michael stayed close to Maxi, but settled for 2nd. 3rd and 4th were occupied by F2 promotees from last season, LambChop and Danner. Malie rounded out the Top 5.
This goes to show that we have an outstanding level of talent this season and anybody is capable of winning races and the Championship. We hope to see you all for the Australian Grand Prix and start of Season 2 this Saturday on ERL Commentary!