Season 2 opened at Silverstone with its first two division winners starting 15th and 14th. Thalo4 took D1 for VCARB and Darth Ussh won D2 for Ferrari; together, their classifications recovered 27 places from grid to flag.
The symmetry was striking without needing embellishment. Two drivers began on the seventh row or further back, two different teams supplied the cars, and both results ended in P1. Silverstone's opening argument was built on position change rather than pole conversion.
Thalo4 converts P15 with 1.161 seconds to spare
Thalo4's D1 result carried pressure at both ends of the classification. The VCARB driver moved from P15 to victory and finished 1.161 seconds ahead of King Pigeon5160, with BULLDOGGER47 third after starting tenth.
D1 also contained the largest raw gain of the round. SideFx99 finished fifth from P20, one place more recovered than Thalo4 but without the winner's final reward. The comparison separated two different achievements: the greatest climb in the classification and the recovery that reached the top step.
Darth Ussh turns P14 into a first IMS victory
Darth Ussh started one place ahead of Thalo4 and finished in the same position. P1 from P14 put a first IMS victory beside his name, ahead of Willow from P2 and Her Wet Cat from P4 in the D2 classification.
Ferrari's advantage did not rest on that result alone. Her Wet Cat added the D3 win, while Darth Ussh also finished second in E1. Those four podiums, two of them victories, produced 142 BOTT points from eight starts.
Two wins and four podiums put Ferrari 25 points clear
The opening BOTT order placed Ferrari first on 142, Kick Sauber second on 117 and VCARB third on 89. A 25-point lead was useful rather than decisive, especially with a VCARB victory and five Kick Sauber top-five finishes already on the board.
Imola followed. Ferrari carried the team lead there, while Thalo4 and Darth Ussh arrived as the first D1 and D2 championship leaders of the season. The next round would begin to show whether Silverstone's recoveries had established a pattern or merely produced an emphatic opening result.
