V10 R-League: JAESA Suzuki and Fordzilla battle to be best of the rest

The two teams at the bottom of Group B come together for Round 4, with JAESA Team Suzuki taking on Team Fordzilla.

Both JAESA Suzuki and Fordzilla have yet to win this season, with JAESA Suzuki even failing to pick up a point in Season 2 so far.

Who'll come out on top and finally get their season underway in this fascinating match-up?

Fordzilla Focus

JAESA Team Suzuki: Kamil Pawlowski, Maichol Tonizza, Giovanni De Salvo

Team Fordzilla: Shaun Arnold, Emre Cihan, Gianmarco Fiduci

The first relay race takes place at Mugello, with Fordzilla's Emre Cihan ahead of Kamil Pawlowski.

The two enter turn 1 neck-and-neck, with Pawlowski braving the outside of the following Luco corner. But the Polish star, desperate to stay level with Cihan, appeared to lose grip on the exit and bin his car straight into the barrier as Cihan carries on.

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With a gigantic lead of over 12 seconds over Pawlowski, Cihan can comfortably drive around the fast Mugello circuit. In fact, the Turkish driver opts to stay out to race Lap 2 while the wounded Pawlowski dives into the pit, swapping places with Maichol Tonizza.

Cihan pits for Shaun Arnold on Lap 3, with JAESA Suzuki still desperately trying to make up time behind. Giovanni De Salvo, who was so consistent in their last outing against BMW, takes the reins for the stricken team as they start their final lap. But he's left with too much to do, as Fordzilla's Gianmarco Fiduci crosses the line to win by 10 seconds.

Mugello Madness

Fordzilla, buoyed by their strong start, lead the team race into the opening lap of Mugello, with their drivers Fiduci, Cihan and Arnold occupying the top three ahead of De Salvo. But drama ensued on the exit of turn 2 as Cihan runs wide before Fiduci, Pawlowski and De Salvo clash and run into the gravel. Arnold, to complete the Lap 1`chaos, runs into the gravel on the inside of the corner.

So, rather incredibly, Tonizza of JAESA Suzuki ends the opening lap as the leader with Cihan in pursuit. But by Lap 3, he looks poised to make a move as he gains on Tonizza, but the Turkish driver makes another huge mistake, spinning out and allowing De Salvo into 2nd place.

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Despite dominating qualifying and leading off the line, Fordzilla's error-strewn display here eventfully led to a comfortable one-two finish for JAESA Suzuki - who earn their very first point of Season 2 in the process!

JAESA Suzuki Fightback

After a chaotic final run in Mugello, what does Silverstone have in store for the two teams - with them tied at 1-1 at this stage?

For the relay race, it's Pawlowski v Cihan for Lap 1 and, having seemingly learned their lessons from Mugello, both drivers keep it clean. Pawlowski goes into the pit to be replaced by Tonizza ahead of Lap 2, with Cihan of Fordzilla staying out to complete another lap, before he himself is switched for Arnold.

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With the drivers again keeping it clean through the race, it's setup rather nicely for a final lap showdown between De Salvo and Fiduci. De Salvo, perhaps the stronger of the two, boasts a lead of over one second as he comes round to finish, win and score JAESA Suzuki another valuable point.

Cihan in Command

With JAESA Suzuki now leading 2-1 heading into the team race, Fordzilla look to fight back with Cihan on pole.

Pawlowski, no doubt keen to make up for earlier errors, is right behind in 2nd place for JAESA Suzuki. Midway through Lap 1, Arnold is tagged by De Salvo on the Aintree corner and by Lap 2, Cihan is out in front by over a second to Pawlowski, who's under pressure from behind from Fiduci.

But Fiduci's attack on 2nd place comes under threat when he mounts a kerb at speed; sending his car into the air and under attack from De Salvo. This leads to the two Italians jostling for position through the Abbey, Farm and Village corners. Further forward, Cihan pulls ahead further from Pawlowski as the pack enter the final lap. The Turkish driver - who lead from the very start - secured an important point for Fordzilla and, intriguingly, a tie between the teams.

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So, each team are still on the hunt for first win of Season 2. But at least they both picked up points here with two apiece.

This does very little to the Group B table, however. Fordzilla still occupy 4th place while JAESA Suzuki are below them at the very bottom of the table in 5th!

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