As you can probably tell from my earlier post, I had an itching to give Nations a go as I got a good feel for the S-FR in practice runs. Set consistent 1:03s in FP, including a 1:03.266 just before matchmaking for the 18:20, but converting this into good finishes proved to be easier said than done.
18:20 Nations
Allocated driver number #2 in a lobby where the challengers to the S-FR crowd were a Supra and a Stratos in full Alitalia colours. This also happened to be the same lobby where
@GR33N put in a stellar performance to snatch pole and finish 2nd in the race. Qualifying was straightforward and incredibly close: my initial time of 1:03.596 was good enough to put me 10th and only 0.185s off GR33N's pole lap. Would this translate to another fight in the top 10?
Well…
Right off the bat, I see the black and yellow car in front pass through what was initially the 6th-placed Spanish driver in a white and grey S-FR. Turns out that he had left it in reverse before the lights went green and actually made it a short distance backwards which caused him to be ghosted. I had assumed that he had somehow jumped the start and picked up a penalty, so while I got a clean getaway on TC 2 I was completely unprepared for the Spaniard to unghost just as I was about to go through him. I jink to the right, but not in time to avoid a collision.
That would've been bad enough, but then I miss my braking point into Turn 1 and end up barging past a couple of cars as a result. This handed me a 1-second penalty which prompted me to wave the pack through to save myself any more drama. Had a couple of decent back-and-forth battles from that point with the Stratos and another Spanish S-FR, but misjudged my braking a few more times towards the end when the latter began fighting another Spaniard in red, white and black. Eventually recovered to 17th, apologised a couple of times and left the lobby with over -1,000 DR points.
19:40 Nations
Ranked #1 within yet another mostly one-make S-FR field. The only exceptions were a yellow Supra and a silver V8 Vantage, which as you will soon find out ended up causing quite a few problems. Made amends with the white and grey Spaniard (door number #12), avoided troubles with the Supra and two other S-FRs to set a 1:04.026. Shaved nearly two tenths following another Spaniard around on my next lap, but needed to get a tighter line through Turn 12 if I was to start higher than 13th. Wasn’t able to improve in the first two sectors, and had any chance of improving completely wiped out by an incident involving the Vantage and another S-FR we caught up on the run from Turn 11.
For some reason, the Vantage was crawling all the way down the straight and proceeded to cut across the second S-FR as they hugged the apex. Another S-FR was ghosted and driving around the outside, which forced me to take to the middle in case it unghosted without warning. What happens next is probably the most bizarre and blatant display of unsportsmanlike conduct I have ever seen in an FIA session. The Spaniard has a small bit of lag and leans on the Vantage. The Vantage
bulldozes the Spaniard off the track as we clear the marshal post. It looked like something straight out of
Wreckfest and I was very lucky to back out quickly enough to avoid getting collected. What's makes it worse is that the Vantage driver had already set a time quick enough to start 9th, so it seemed to me as if this was a desperate bid to stop other SF-Rs including myself from improving their positions. Considering I would remain 13th on the grid, this appeared to be successful.
Thankfully I made a much better getaway on TC 2 and survived a few hefty hits to climb up to 11th. One of the cars involved was a green Spaniard who lost control at Turn 6 and slid into my front right; I was concerned it would lead to a penalty, but thankfully this did not materialise. Followed a train lead by the Vantage while holding off two fellow British entries, then on Lap 4 got a run and a pass around outside of the South African who initially bumped me. His response? Divebomb up the inside of Turns 5-6… fortunately I saw him coming and made a break for it as he ran wide. Broke into the high 1:03s and made rapid gains on the Vantage train; the Vantage, as I suspected, tried multiple times to force the #12 car off the road without any hesitation.
On Lap 8, I actually ran side-by-side with the Vantage and was looking to follow him through when the #12 car ran too deep through Turns 5-6. As I was focused on the road ahead, I thought I had pulled well clear of the #12 as I followed the Vantage through the apex of Turn 7. Next thing I know, the #12 slams into my side and we both end up in the tyre stacks. Thankfully, I was able to keep going and re-join straight away, but that was my chances of a top-10 finish gone. At first, I believed the #12 had turned against me, but I later found out that he was violently forced off the road again by the Vantage and floored it over the grass in an attempt to exact revenge. I should add as well that at no point did the Vantage driver ever receive a penalty for these actions nor any more sustained challenges for 8th place.
Anyway, I spent the rest of my race being forced to scrap for 13th; on Lap 11, the black and red Irish S-FR caught me out by braking early into Turn 1 while following the green car from earlier. Had to duck to the inside grass, but still ended up hitting him, and later on the same lap I get compromised by the #12 car spinning at Turn 8. The result is that I’m now down in 17th, and look set to stay there right up until the final lap. By that point I was already contemplating whether I should keep doing these N-class races and could sense that things could still turn ugly for the cars up in front. Sure enough, at the very last corner, the #12 and the Irishman both run wide after a scuffle with the green car, allowing me to slip past and snatch 15th with the Irishman by my side. Came close to pipping the green car as well, but he managed to survive as he ran wide over the grass!
Not much else I can say about these two, other than it was just as well I entered this round for fun and not as a push to improve my minimum scores. Ended up losing a total of 2,020 DR points as a result, which can mostly be attested to my driver numbers and clumsiness in the 18:20 slot. Still can't wrap my head around what was going on in the mind of that Vantage driver; to be frank, some of the moves pulled off by other drivers also seemed desperate at times. Still, the S-FR feels as great as ever and definitely had enough to land top 10 finishes with better luck and better judgement on the brakes when it counts. Guess I got to move on...
