Super Touring has different classes, but it’s no secret that Super Touring drivers always have the unofficial “overall” win in the back of their minds. So when Ralph Warren took the white flag at Willow Springs International Raceway, he continued to try to get around an ST2 Corvette, even though he was in ST1. We can’t give away the ending, because we ask you in the middle of the video what you would do.

Since we can’t give away the ending, we’d like to point out a couple of interesting tidbits. If you look closely through the center net, you can see the speeds that Warren is carrying, which tells you a lot about how much grip his car has, and how fast a track Willow Springs is.

Watch till the end and post a constructive comment if you like.

Ralph Warren’s Super Touring 1 BMW E90 M3.
Image courtesy of Ralph Warren

9 COMMENTS

  1. Many years ago at Willow Springs, I was watching a BMW club race and was blown away by a pass made on the outside of turn 8 heading into 9, Just like the video we just saw.
    When I asked about who it was that made that pass, it was none other than Ralph Warren.
    Watching this video and seeing where he was going, I was thinking deja vu, he is going to make that pass again.
    Different result but amazing driving.
    Good Job Ralph.

  2. Great watch Ralph! Loved the give and take.

    It would appear that Ralph and that ST car had raced together before, as they both gave quarters when called for.

    Ralph (IMHO) kinda left himself in a no win going into T9 being on the outside of the Vet. As a ture racer, with many yrs of experience Ralph took the dirt rd (BTW nice job keeping her straight) and besides some massive rocks in the undertray, looked like a fun racey time!

    Cheers, Shawn

  3. Amazing driving, but since the ST1 and ST2 cars are not in competing classes, if Ralph was not under pressure from any other ST1 drivers (appeared not to be), with half a lap to go, I’d have played it safe, passing the corvette at T9 would not have improved his results in his class. He ultimately lost 4 positions being aggressive to get the “overall win”, which is meaningless. Maybe try to get a better run out of T9 and pass on the main straight.

  5. It was racing. Looked super fun. We (well not me anymore) are out there to race. Unless there was some class stuff going on that we can’t see, I think the majority of us would have raced. Could have been for 10th/11th overall, I bet both Ralph and Jim thought it was a blast.

    Hard to judge if he was “there” from the camera angle. I’m going with ‘he was close to there’, but I could be totally wrong.

    Nice job keeping control with the off. Usually dirt in 8 is bad.

  6. If you’re going to try and make a pass in that situation, do it on the inside……..it’s much higher percentage. Could have tried for the apex of 9. May have at least put him in a better position to take it at the line on the front straight. Never give up a first in class finish, especially with a low percentage move. Vette should have given him racing room on the outside though.

  7. Was there any overlap? Does not look like it. The vette’s path predictable. I’d say he was not forced off, coulda/shoulda tucked in behind and tried inside at 9. Class fight or not I’d say Warren made a gutsy move but he owns the off.

  8. Yep, try to get inside on 9 and drag race down the front. That’s what it looked like he could do at the start of this video

  9. our onboard ST1 might have pinched the nose of the ST2 and that contibuted to the C5 ST2 coming wide. I think though the ST2 should have been placed behind the ST1’s finishing place, as he did run him wide. It’s good for the sport that the ST1 went for it.

Join the Discussion