The First Two Rounds of the GT12 National Title are Complete

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By Tyler Hooks
LiveRC.com

Press Release from Schumacher Racing:
www.racing-cars.com

The start of the new GT12 national championship marked the start of competition running with Schumacher’s new GT12 platform, the Atom 2.  This was the first ever race meeting using the new car for the entire team.
In the end, a decent number of racers took on the long trip (for some) to the south of England where the ever fantastic, Eastbourne club played host to the great start of the new series.

Round 1 – Saturday
It was clear from the offset that it wouldn’t take any time to get the new car ‘in the setup window’.  The people choosing to run the Atom 2 where immediately on leading pace, with 6 of the top 7 drivers after qualifying running the new Schumacher car.

Qualifying Results
1- Andy Murray – Schumacher Atom 2
2- Mark Jewitt   – Schumacher Atom 2
3- Nathanael Goodban – Schumacher Atom 2
4- Owen Smith – Zen RXGT12
5- Matthew Gammons – Schumacher Atom 2
6- David Gale – Schumacher Atom 2
7- Daniel Robins – Schumacher Atom 2
8- George Brewer – Schumacher Atom CC
9- Alex King – Schumacher Atom CC
10- Matthew Hunter – Schumacher Atom CC

The battle for pole position was a close one throughout qualifying with Mark Jewitt and Schumacher’s own junior design engineer Nathanael Goodban loving their new cars and raising their game to take it to defending champion Andy Murray.

The final saw a race long battle between Mark and Nathanael taking 2nd and 3rd in that order, with Andy stretching a small lead to take the win.  This gave the Atom 2 a podium lock out on its first ever event!

Final Results
1- Andy Murray – Schumacher Atom 2
2- Mark Jewitt   – Schumacher Atom 2
3- Nathanael Goodban – Schumacher Atom 2
4- Daniel Robins – Schumacher Atom 2
5- Matthew Gammons – Schumacher Atom 2
6- Matthew Hunter – Schumacher Atom CC
7- George Brewer – Schumacher Atom CC
8- Alex King – Schumacher Atom CC
9- Owen Smith – Zen RXGT12
10- David Gale – Schumacher Atom 2

Round 2 – Sunday
Day 2 and a reset for all racers on Sunday as the second round of the championship commenced.
After qualifying a very similar result confirmed the decent debut for the new car the day before.

Qualifying Results
1- Andy Murray – Schumacher Atom 2
2- Mark Jewitt   – Schumacher Atom 2
3- Nathanael Goodban – Schumacher Atom 2
4- Owen Smith – Zen RXGT12
5- Matthew Gammons – Schumacher Atom 2
6- David Gale – Schumacher Atom 2
7- Daniel Robins – Schumacher Atom 2
8- George Brewer – Schumacher Atom CC
9- Stan French – Schumacher Atom 2
10- Scott Morton – Zen RXGT12

Qualifying was even closer this time, with less than 2 seconds separating the top 3 for the majority of qualifying.  
Congratulations have to go to Stan French for his first ever national A final after many years of trying, on his first weekend out using the Atom 2!
In the A final Andy and Mark made a break slightly clear of the race for 3rd between Nathanael and Owen.
Several laps later Nathanael built a gap, clear of 4th place and while the leaders started lapping some backmarkers, this allowed Nathanael an opportunity to take the lead.  An opportunity he took and grabbed the win with both hands for his first ever national victory!  Mark and Andy continued their super close battle to complete the podium with Mark taking another second place finish with some fantastic defence!

Final Results
1- Nathanael Goodban – Schumacher Atom 2
2- Mark Jewitt   – Schumacher Atom 2
3- Andy Murray – Schumacher Atom 
4- Daniel Robins – Schumacher Atom 2
5- Matthew Gammons – Schumacher Atom 2
6- David Gale – Schumacher Atom 2
7- Stan French – Schumacher Atom 2
8- Scott Morton – Zen RXGT12
9- George Brewer – Schumacher Atom CC
10- Owen Smith – Zen RXGT12

Another stand out performance for Schumacher’s young gun Daniel Robins, as he stormed to his best ever result by far, taking P4 on both days!  Daniel took 2nd place junior to Owen Smith based on qualifying order.
Well done to the whole team and everyone running the Atom 2 for a fabulous showing on the debut race weekend!

Andy and Nathanael's winning set up's can be found here.

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