Season One Sebring

The Season One Sebring GP was the inaugural race of the first Gravel Racing League World Chanpionship held on September 3rd 2011. Ross Mayger was the winner of the 11 lap race around Sebring International Raceway, with Edward Knight in second and Michael Saunders in third.

Background
During August, more and more details began to come out about this new racing series, and in August the calendar and driver line-up were announced. Soon after these announcements however, rumours began to spread about Shell Grand Prix drivers Robin Hawthorn and Ross Bramley and whether they would be able to make the grid. These rumours proved founded when they failed to make the grid for the first round, thus giving a six car grid made up of three teams for the opening race.

The Race
Starting the quickest, Michael Saunders came up along side Knight, and they collided. This caused a chain reaction where Ross Mayger was forced to dodge a spinning Michael Saunders, which caused him to hit Golden, who was able to continue without slowing. Mayger, on the other hand, span, and rejoined ahead of Saunders in fifth place. The majority of people had a very untidy first lap, with many people making trips to the grass throughout. The race was also not without its share of contact. Owen Jackson drew attention to the stewards over multiple incidents of dangerous drivng, and twice made sizeable contact with another driver that was easily avoidable. These incidents were considered serious enough for him to be give a ten second post-race penalty. Another incident that was looked at by the stewards occured on lap 2, when Ross Mayger attempted to overtake Golden after recovering with his first corner spin, he moved down the inside and the two touched, as a result of this contact Jon spun. Ross Mayger was given a reprimand by the stewards for this event. On lap 4, Alex Mayger made contact with Knight after being overtaken by him, this contact almost resulted in a collision with Saunders, but he narrowly avoided Mayger's stationary car in the middle of the final turn. No further action was taken.

There were also many changes of position in the race as Saunders and R Mayger made their way back through the field. Jackson on the other hand, slowly made his way down the order from pole position as his mistakes began to hinder his progress, so much so that Golden, who was several seconds behind after his collision with Ross Mayger caught and almost passed him. The pass never occured because Golden spun a few corners after he had reached the back of Jackson. After Alex Mayger spun out of contention the top three: Knight, Ross Mayger and Saunders quicly pulled out a lead. They stayed relatively close together in this order until the winning overtake was made by Ross Mayger on the final corner of lap 7.

Results

 * Jackson recieved a ten second post-race penalty.