Ran a later slot than usual without many familiar names, in a little lower rated lobby than I have been, though all low A rated drivers. There must be a lot of people just over the cut line because at just under 32k, I was #3, and this seems to have been the case last few races. Crowded and competitive field.
Didn't have particularly strong FP sessions but was able to nudge my best time down in the final one after entering, which is always encouraging. Qualified poorly, though, binning it in the tough chicane in the final sector, on what was a solid lap until then. Thankfully had time to put another flyer in, barely (thanks to being raced by some moron on the out lap, and having to walk back a bit...) but only managed to start 14th.
Plan was to run a professional, workman-like race, avoid trouble, and muster a top 10 from there. Did just that, with a clean solid 10 lap opening stint on mediums, until my lap times went off. I worked up to 10th during that run, with one pass and otherwise outlasting the other drivers on different pit strategies.
Then a really good short stint on hards, where I was able to run even increasingly faster laps with the fuel load going down, and also gap the interval behind me, while on the slower tire, until coming in for the final 6-lap stint on the Softs. Had a good row with an Alfa to keep 9th, put just a little pressure on a Subaru in front of me over the last two laps, but couldn’t really threaten him, settling happily for 9th.
The points probably (hopefully?) won’t matter in the end, though they would currently be my 4th best, and count as part of my season total. But I didn’t expect a ton more and to be honest, running solid race with clean racing is more rewarding than getting too worked up over better finishes. My pace just wasn’t going to allow for that here.
Overall, exactly what I was hoping for at this stage, at a track and tire combo that didn’t play to my strengths. I just can’t get the pace out of Softs in the 911. So a clean top 10, with no DR lost, was just fine by me. Hope all the other GTP guys had a good race. It’s a cool track, just not my strong suit in this car, or on this tire setup.
edit: looked at the results, and I was the biggest mover in the race, so I feel even better about the result. Tough strategy race, and I feel like I nailed it.
) but I like tracks in reverse. I find reverse Gardens more flowing and around the chicane especially. I'm hopeless driving through it on the regular layout. I went 6S/6S/6S/1M/1H and looking back, I probably made one stop too many on Softs. I qualified 8th behind a Ford GT that ran into the turn 2 wall (F) and several laps later, a Ferrari span around the S-bend. I think I made one pass all race. I dropped a couple of places when I pit for Hards and Mediums to finish 7th (130p). Long strategic races are really fun, I hope for more of them.
), and pretty satisfied with my efforts tonight.
