2010 Karjala Grand Prix

The 2010 Karjala Grand Prix was the seventh race of the 2010 TM Master Cup season. It was held at the Karjala Raceway in northern Finland.

This was the 34th annual running of the event. This was also the first race in TM Master Cup Series history that the Series would not allow provisional spots for some of the bigger teams.

Pre-Qualifying Race Shenanigans
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Pre-race storylines
Fifteen minutes into second practice, Alexis Rainsford and Saar driver Tony Durbin did not take long to collide with each other. After Rainsford had been holding Durbin up for several corners, Durbin attempted a pass through the Dwyer S and made contact with Rainsford, sending her into the tire wall. Rainsford went to a backup car, which infuriated team owner Cyril Volpi, who believed the primary car was three tenths of a second over the rest of the field.

Durbin insisted Rainsford was driving too slow through the other parts of the course.

"Only that dumb b**** blocks you during practice and intentionally runs three, four seconds off your pace to spite you." Durbin said to the press. "I made a move and I guess I took her by surprise and she didn't realize blocking doesn't work when you're side by side. I don't appreciate someone running into my door."

Rainsford was quick to respond to Durbin's outburst in the pit area, after being interviewed by the press.

"You don't pass someone in the Dwyer S on the left side driving way over your head!" Rainsford said. "I'm pretty sure Saar has enough money to install brakes on the car, but they can't get someone to drive it who knows where the brake is, or where to pass! Tony better have a nice look at the car he's driving because I'm going to repay the favor."

Less than an hour later, Rainsford kept to her promise, spinning Durbin in the Mallat carousel, sending the Saar into the tire wall. The officials, not impressed, called both Rainsford and Durbin to the hauler.

Practice three saw Rainsford have another run-in on the track, but this time with Brian Sendack after the Madigan corner, sending her into the sand trap -- and the wall -- in Sirola Park. The result was Rainsford going to another backup car, which was Zach Duff's backup car, regarded by team personnel as sluggish.

Sendack said the contact with Rainsford was "unintentional and unfortunate", but Rainsford herself was unconvinced. Sendack claimed he was experiencing fading brakes during practice, and he found himself in the Kallela hairpin sand trap a few laps later.

Team Saar USA claimed that Sendack's brakes were fading, and determined that the same problems were present on all four of their cars.

"We got wrecked by two cars from the same team. These same idiots wrecked us last year and took us out of the championship because they use team orders." Rainsford said to the press. "All I know is that if I see one of the Saars or the Tremwells I better expect to get wrecked. I don't know if Scott Steudler or Crash Johaanes have been told to take me out in the race but at least now I know that if they're in front of me that they're going to have magical brake issues."

The Saar Eagle had, according to technical inspection following each practice, shown more brake wear than all cars except the Eichholtz E231.

Postrace penalties

 * None