Robin Van Brenk and Stuart Fields take one win each at Melbourne and Sepang respectively and so begins the titanic scrap to chase down Malcolm Rice for the sprint title glory.

The sprint series arrived at Melbourne briming with nineteen eager drivers waiting for their second bite of the season. It was immediately clear that Malcolm Rice would not have it his own way as Robin Van Brenk took pole from Michael Pieneman by a staggering 0.002 of a second with Nick Oldenhuis just 0.025 off the pole time. Rice would be fourth ahead of series debutants Darren Stringer and Maurice Zondag with Bahrain battlers Smith and Venhorst just behind with another debutant Gary Cooper and Maurice Willems rounding out the top 10.

It was a manic start as Pieneman got the jump of Brenk to lead as Van Brenk made an early mistake slipping to fourth by the end of the opening lap. Pieneman’s lead was short lived as Nick Oldenhuis soon took it from the Dutchman on the second lap, only to then lose it himself to Malcolm Rice on lap 3! However something was in the Dutchies water as Robin Van Brenk was busy making a surge passing Pieneman (who’d gone off) and Oldenhuis before diving passed Rice on lap 6 to retake the lead once again.

Further behind action was coming think and fast. Jermaine Venhorst had made a cracking start but did not have the pace to stay 5th behind Maurice Zondag and was disposed by Simon Smith, Darren Stringer and the recovering Pieneman who then all began their own scrap. Maurice Willems would also pass the Redspeed driver too. Pieneman would eventually pass Smith and Stringer, the latter pair battling until the pitstops where Stringer would pit and have to play catch up all race.

Up front however Robin Van Brenk controlled the race to win comfortably while Nick Oldenhuis overtook Malcolm Rice on the last lap to snatch second from his grasp. It was a fantastic display from the top three. Michael Pieneman recovered to an excellent fourth but will have been left wondering where he could have been while Maurice Zondag was delighted with 5th on his debut. Darren Stringer too performed a last lap move on new tyres passing Smith’s worn out BackMarker Brigade to take a determined 6th on debut. Maurice Willems was the last unlapped driver with a quiet race to 8th ahead of a lapped Jermaine Venhorst who managed to overtake Gary Cooper in the closing stages to take 9th and 10th, Cooper another scorer on debut.

Craig Johnston came home a few seconds behind in 11th to a consistant 11th ahead of James Scanlan showing improved form over Bahrain in 12th and Patrick Wier who sustained early damage and done well to limp home a dogged 13th. Of the retirements, Kye Barker was the most upsetting as he was on for points early on until he lost his front wing and then later binned it, along with Emmanuel Baako – another driver showing improvement too. Debutant Rich Tranter also crashed out early on lap 3 and lamented on what was a character building weekend while Daniel Hamm was a lap one casualty and had too much damage once pitting to continue. Myles Dixon and Lee Massey were disqualifed.

With just one week to sort themselves out, the traveling band made their way to Sepang, Malaysia with Rice leading the championship. However the world of Grand Prix Online does not sit still and more threats to plough into Rice’s points lead.

Due to timing changes, Stuart Fields had joined the Sprint series after impressing in the Challenge league for GridLine racing to join teammate Oldenhuis, while Sven Hesse had joined the league for Millenium Racing and promtly told everyone exactly what his intentions were by placing his car on pole position in qualifying. Malcolm Rice had upped his game to start alongside him, with Feilds and Van Brenk on row two. Gregg Lawson joining the league for OrangeTech started an impressive 5th ahead of Stringer, Pieneman, newcomer Peter Hummer, Smith and an on form Myles Dixon 10th.

At the lights there was all kinds of pandemonium and Patrick Wier’s unlucky streak continued as he was out on the opening lap, with James Scanlan failing to actually take the start! However up front it had all kicked off with Hesse not quite taking the tarmac route into turn oneand dropping down to ninth! Quickly disposing of Smith, he then made light work of Pieneman and Lawson to chase down the leaders.

The leaders were being led by Robin Van Brenk at the end of the opening lap, with a fantastic start from fourth to first with Rice, Fields and Darren Stringer all well in the mix. However what was to follow for the entire race was some of the finest sim racing we’re seen in years. Van Brenk, Rice, Fields, Stringer – all quickly joined by Hesse swapping positions corner on corner in a magical display of driving prowess. First Rice would lead, then  Van Brenk and then Fields for a good few laps, but in all their bickering and argy-bargy Hesse was busy picking them off one by one and rose into the lead on lap 17 of 28.

However, not to be pertubed by losing, Stuart Fields buckeled down and passed Robin on lap 21 and eventually made it round Sven on lap 26 can clung on for dear life to snatch the victory from the jaws of defeat in Malaysia and gave us our third winner in as many races. Sven Hesse was just 1.7 seconds behind in second after what had been a storming drive. Similarly Michael Pieneman, who hadn’t featured in qualifying and got himself stuck in the mix in the second half of the race to take the third spot on the podium taking Malcolm and Robin on lap 25. Malcolm would come in 4th, Robin a hard fought 5th despite leading at the beginning.

Gregg Lawson had kept a watching brief on the action in 6th after fending off Peter Hummer in the early laps and not needing to pit for tyres, something most drivers did. Hummer himself came in a delighted 7th ahead of a lonely Simon Smith in 8th, thus losing his 5th overall in the championship, a feat which had caused much amusement in the paddock! Jermaine Venhorst was a lapped 9th after a pass on Daniel Hamm on lap 14 secured the place while Hamm took his first point of 2010 and GPO with a much improved drive to 10th. Also far improved was Lee Massey for the first time in 2010 not looking like an accident waiting to happen, and the final finisher was Rich Tranter whom stayed a lap down and out of trouble to show a marked improvement during the race.

So that all left Malcolm Rice still leading the championship but by just 10 fragile points from Michael Pieneman whose consistancy has shone through in 2010. Nick Oldenhuis and Robin Van Brenk complete the Dutch trio in the hunt for the 2010 championship with New Zealand resident Stuart Fields and German Sven Hesse looking set to ascend the order, thus demoting the sandwiched Simon Smith in the hands of another trio of Dutchies – Willems, Zondag and Venhorst.

Shanghai’s up next – who will tame the Golden Dragon?

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