Alpha Moment #6: Suzuka West

December 5th, 2022
Season 6
Round 4

Results
Broadcast

Season 6 was well underway in the waning months of 2022. Entering the fourth round, Wojciech Swirydowicz and Micah Hendricks were favorites to contend for the Alpha title as they combined to win the first three meetings. The second season of the Delta championship was shaping up to be a strong one for Justin T Rhodes. The field of 27 drivers arrived in Japan after an early bye week, fresh and ready to race on the West course of Suzuka. The series had already visited two other layouts at Suzuka. The East course was run in Season 2, while the full Grand Prix course had been used in Season 4. Swirydowicz had won that outing, and was not going to upset during qualifying.

The Polish Beast won pole by -0.253 over Hendricks, cementing him as the favorite in the upcoming Sprint Challenge. Behind the scenes, there was some conversation happening in race control. The schedule for the heat races was being displayed oddly, as if there was a grid limit on the races. When the drivers gridded, it became clear what had happened. The track only had 22 pit stalls, but heat racing formats don’t warn you of this, instead choosing to unilaterally change the format to split the field into two groups, and only 22 cars would go to the feature.

The announcement came before the green flag: the race would not count for points. After the meeting had concluded and the drivers dispersed, the series made the decision to extend the season by one week, and slot Suzuka’s Grand Prix layout into the season the very next week, December 12th. This, of course, had championship implications that were not realized until months later. At the Grand Prix layout, Hendricks outqualified Swirydowicz, who then tangled with McKinzie during the second heat and had further issues in the feature, failing to win any of the races that week.

James D Carr would win, and then win again the next week. McKinzie would eventually win at Mid-Ohio, setting up a four-way showdown between McKinzie, Hendricks, Carr, and Swirydowicz in the finale at Bathurst on February 20th. Swirydowicz had to miss the race, which was previously been scheduled for the 13th before the Suzuka West issue caused the entire schedule to get pushed out one week. This put Swirydowicz firmly out of contention. Hendricks won the race, and McKinzie wrapped up his fourth title.

And what of that races at Suzuka West? It didn’t just end, many drivers actually stayed and competed. Francois Shink and Matthew Rzepka won the first two heat races, then the next set was won by Shink and Jérôme Bajulaz. Five drivers started the feature race, and only two actually finished: Samuel Curran and Matthew Rzepka, who won the feature, making him the winner of arguably the strangest un-official race in series history.

In the 2023 Season 1 Patch 3 Release, just 51 days after the original scheduled date of the Suzuka West race and while Season 6 itself still had four rounds left, iRacing increased the maximum grid size of the West layout to 60 cars.