2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

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Well qualifying was again mediocre and I started P11. Started on the hard tyres and properly arsed up lap 1 and got caught on a scrap for the first 7 or so laps. Managed to pit on lap 10 from the hard tyres and swapped to the mediums and the softs were effectively a qualifying tyre for me. Stint on the mediums was pretty quiet and managed to jump a few cars in the pits to finish 9th for 87 points. One and done, x10 tyre wear doesn't make for a particularly fun race for me as it's all about tyre saving.

 
One and done for me tonight.
Halfway round my quali outlap realised I'd neglected to change onto the softs :dunce:, pitted for some tires that may actually help and got to the line with 6 seconds left of the session. some deep breaths and I managed to put it on the front row!

You can save time by skipping the inlap and pit stop and going straight to doing another outlap and flying lap on fresh tyres. It does not work for today's race as there is not enough time to do a second outlap after doing a flying lap, but it's something to keep in mind for future races.
 
Well my first run was a disaster.
Mucked up my qualy through the chicane and spun it. Of course my tyres were dead and I only managed 16th on the grid. Someone managed to spin it on the start and I was up 1 place. Managed to get ahead of a couple of cars who had gone off. Then on lap 6 I got a run on a Porsche out of turn 5. He tried to nudge me so wasn't looking to play fair. Into the next corner they tapped my rear on the way out. The car isn't stable through there anyway but this just sent me round. Of course then this killed my already dying tyres and I went on at least 2 more spins. I came into the pits almost sideways and forget to fuel. :dunce: As I came out in DFL some 20 or seconds behind I quit. First FIA I have quit. Will have to do a later slot to get a result of some kind.Why do idiots have to ruin it?
 
So I stuck with Mazda. Only difference was running with the Rx-vision this time around, instead of the Atenza.

Manufacturers Rd. 1

First attempt. Got disconnected before the lobby screen, thankfully, reckon I didn't lose any DR/SR.

Second attempt

Door number 2, Q5. Unfortunately an infamous friend was in this one.
Initially planned to run a 10H/7S (hope that math is right, lol)
Got overtaken before turn 1, but wasn't keen to fight, just wanted to try save tyres and fuel.

Around lap 8, decided it was worth giving the no stopper a shot. One of my greatest weaknesses is tyre management, but the manu definitely helps with that.

After all the pitting was done, was up to P2. Behind another rx-vision.

One of the guys who pitted, eventually caught me on the last lap, I didn't fight it at all. Didn't have enough fuel. Finished with 1% fuel left.

Came home, P3.
156 points
+1200 DR.

One and done for me. Happy with that, not a track I'm very strong on.
 
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My decision to quit the daily races and just do the FIA races this season seen me put in the best practice ever in the game for a race as my time can be limited to get to race, I do not really like the track but it was about time I learned it properly. I have done about 15 races in the last week and mostly against DR-A&B so I was not getting any results in them but learned how to manage the tyres and fuel, still I just thought I was slow at this track.

I think my decision had paid off!!
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Started on Soft and managed them for 7 laps and could well have done 8 and was fuel-saving after lap 3 as I had a 5 sec gap, it was a bit boring in the end and had to turn down fuel as I found I was going after my fastest lap when I didn't need to and have binned the car in the past chasing a faster time.

Not going to bother on Alt-aac at all just stick to my main acc even though I was faster in the Toyota.
 
I do not like the Barfcelona circuit and had one of my worst races ever there a few seasons ago, finishing 19th in an RSO, after a horrible race. Could not keep that b***h on the black stuff!

But wanted another attempt and so I entered. B/S lobby, door number 4.
I made a mistake in the last sector on my second qualifying lap, otherwise would be 7th on the grid.
Was 12th now and had a good start and as 2 cars took each other out and I overtook a Porsche I was 9th after lap 1.

To make a long story short; ...and finished 9th. not very eventfull, just focussed on staying on track.
got 62 points and relatively pleased with the result.
Did 8H/9H and felt like a good decision as I had a lot of issues in practices with the softs and mediums. Now on to the next round!!

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I did the first slot, got 3rd with the first hot lap and Pole with the second.

Aston on soft tyres to start, in the lower splits so going for a 2 stop strat (5S/7H/5S) to make the most of the power out of the corners. Only H required so skipping Mediums. Manage to keep ahead on the first lap, the first few corners I had to defend and briefly lost 1st, but 2nd and 3rd were door to door allowing me a comfortable 2 second lead before it settled down.

By lap 5 I'm making my first stop to do the middle on Hard tyres for 7 laps, filled just enough extra fuel to do it and came back out 5th. The other cars on Softs had all pitted with me so were behind me, but ahead were the cars that started further back on Hard tyres leapfrogging me at the pits. I knew they would probably come in after a lap or three and so it didn't take long before I was back in 1st gaining as much time as I could on the clear track.

I was a full 24 seconds ahead before coming in for the final set of softs on lap 12 but that lead is no match for the dreadfully long pit stops now, and I came back out 2nd and 8 seconds behind a car that thankfully was on Hards, so I chipped a few seconds a lap off them and closed in on my prey fast, super confident on fresh Softs but knowing that advantage is short lived. I got past on lap 17 after a couple of corners side by side I got past cutting back around the long Renault curve, using the extra grip to take the tighter line while laying down the power.

From there it was easy enough to keep the lead by not making mistakes, and I finished 1st with the fastest lap, got the triple. What a way to start the new season, really happy with Aston here!
 
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Had fun in this race. Managed to put a decent qualifying with a 1:42.9, which got me 5th on the grid. I saw that the guy in 1st was in a Mazda, so thought they would start on hards, so I went for hards as well (turned out they went on softs so the front 3 blasted away).

Super-GT was just in front and was heavily fuel saving, so I passed him on the 2nd lap, and then spent the next 8 laps just doing laps with an Alfa close behind. Unfortunately for me, on lap 10 my wheel started playing up. I managed to hold it together until the pit, but probably lost about 5 seconds. I managed to reset the wheel at the pit stop, but after fuelling up I dropped from 1st to 11th.

I managed to work my way back up through the field, and managed to steal 6th from Steve going onto the last lap, but just couldn't catch the guys ahead. Without the steering issue it would have been 4th, but 6th is ok for me in a good field and in a fuel race.
 
Bit the bullet and joined Audi again on an alt. Started 3rd. Finished 2nd. Did 10RM/7RM. P1(650S) did 11RM/6RS. pulled away from me out of the pits with a 5 second gap. That blew up to 17 seconds at the finish line.

We were locked bumper to bumper for the first 8 laps. I got a slight MR Sliiiiiide at the "Barcelona" hairpin. That gave P1 enough to build a gap of 3 seconds before I made my stop. I had 28% fuel.
When P1 stopped, the 650S had 22%.

Only drama was into T1. P2 was an M-Power M6. It overan the exit of T1 esses. Went onto the gravel.
P4 in a Jag, outbrakeed itself at the underpass right-hander. Good thing I was aware and moved more left. The Jag began to rotate and slowed the rest of the field.

I finished 18 seconds ahead of P3.
 
Meh,

Don't like this track, the final sector is garbage but I gave it a go anyway.

Door 15, low B room. Qualified 4th and decided to go 11H 6S for max speed at the end. All I had to do was not fight anyone who was on softs or meds early on. But man people are dumb! Everyone is fighting for every corner all the time, and meanwhile the top 2 are off in the distance.

Divebombed at the hairpin and lose 3 places. Fine they all seem to be on softs. Then an RCZ comes up so fast he must be on softs. I'm going to let him past on the main straight but no he punts me massively at the right hander before the final chicane. By the time I get the taxi back from Narnia I'm all the way down in 17th.

It calmed down after that and I fight back to 9th on the softs late on when I am really flying. 3 cars fighting ahead and they mess about enough that I get one of them on the final turn.

8th, 59 points and a handful of DR. I could go again as I feel I had decent pace, top 2 were 20 seconds up on 3rd and I was only 10 seconds behind 3rd. Lost more than that from the Narnia trip. But did I mention that I hate this track? One and done.
 
That was all odd.

Couldn't catch the guy in front of me in qualifying, and the guy behind couldn't catch me either. Front guy was 2nd, I was 7th, guy behind was 11th. 8th and 6th fell off on cold hard tyres in turn one and then I basically drove an almost totally solitary race, not able to catch the guy in front or drop the guy behind.

At one point an Italian chap in a BMW just drove into the guy behind me, then me, then the guy in front of me, and then the guy in front of him, and finished third.

With literally half a lap to go, the Ferrari in front of the Porsche in front of me made a massive error, slid, and almost collected the Porsche who managed to avoid it. That slowed both of them up and I got both at T10, and they held up the other RX-Vision who was about to pass me, so I finished 4th with I think my best ever points in the current system at 151.

Oddly clean race and everyone was very happy with it afterwards, but uniformly pissed off with the BMW.
 
Hi all. Long-time lurker, first-time poster here. Thought the opener of this season was about time I join the conversation. Love to see all the race reports rolling in.

I’m 99% sure I’m signing up with Lexus tonight. I’m slightly faster most places in the Aston Martin but there are so many drivers with AM now it’s hard to crack the top 25. I used the Lambo in the 2020 season so I’m looking forward to fewer spins at least!
 
I do not like the Barfcelona circuit and had one of my worst races ever there a few seasons ago, finishing 19th in an RSO, after a horrible race. Could not keep that b***h on the black stuff!

But wanted another attempt and so I entered. B/S lobby, door number 4.
I made a mistake in the last sector on my second qualifying lap, otherwise would be 7th on the grid.
Was 12th now and had a good start and as 2 cars took each other out and I overtook a Porsche I was 9th after lap 1.

To make a long story short; ...and finished 9th. not very eventfull, just focussed on staying on track.
got 62 points and relatively pleased with the result.
Did 8H/9H and felt like a good decision as I had a lot of issues in practices with the softs and mediums. Now on to the next round!!

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So how is the Citroen working out for you? Glad you went with it?
 
Now that's more like it.
Had qualy slightly ruined by a Czech who obviously had the wrong tyres on. They came out right at the start of my flying lap as they had pitted. Pulled straight across. I wasn't sure what they were doing so made the decision to dive. Went a bit deep and they undercut me. Rest of the lap was o.k. but they eventually let me through in sector 3. (Hoping for a slip maybe?) I set a 47.3 and moved straight over and backed out of the session. (No slip my friend.) I reckon he cost me 3-5 tenths and I probably would have had a high 46 I reckon. Even more annoyingly they set a time 6 hundredths ahead of me. Ended up 11th on the grid.
I immediately pounced on my nemesis in turn 3 as they wobbled :mischievous: and never saw them again as they went backwards. Was a pretty quiet for a few laps. Eventually caught up to some people fighting ahead. I kept it on the road, some of them didn't. Pitted lap 7 for my hards and fuel this time. Came out in 19th. Then everyone started to pit ahead of me and I found myself in 7th by pure dint of staying on the road. One of the top 3 was behind me after their stop. I knew they were quicker so let them through. A couple of laps later they were on the back the cars ahead. Seems 3 of them had a moment at turn 5 as I passed 2 of them spun. More knocks at the chicane saw two ahead pit and I passed the recovering Aston down the start/ finish straight. Again he was faster so once he got back in the groove he also had a free pass though I made him work for it around the outside of Turn 10 hoping for a mistake. This did allow the same guy from before to slowly catch up especially as I was treating the chicane area like ice because of Huracan reasons. We had a good battle I was never going to win on the last lap. Crossed in 5th, but the Aston got a tyre penalty and I was promoted to 4th for 57 points.
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My DR from the race beat got me ahead of yesterdays total so completely wiped the drain from quitting and then some. Get in!
 
If there's any NA racers unsure of strategy going into tonight, I've done several practice races and watched a few EMEA streams today. (I had the day off from work.)

Personally, I still suck at this particular combo with all the multipliers and am expecting a fairly dismal result but I can give some really good pointers:

1. If you are an absolute beast at fuel & tire saving, a no-stop is a viable option. Even more so if you're driving the Mazda RX-Vision. (Very much OP right now.) But I've seen several top split drivers fade the last couple laps due to either fuel or tire wear. Often both.

2. Start on the RH. Unless maybe you start on pole. But the drop off in fuel weight is substantial with the 4x multiplier. You may get an extra lap out of your RS or RM simply by burning off fuel weight on the first stint.

3. Be patient. In every race I've watched, the leaders have come back to the chase pack. Don't waste time and tire life fighting for position mid-race.

That said, I'm off to go stink up Northern Spain with my rather mediocre racing skills. Best of luck to you all!
 
6 laps on Softs sounds like a dream. I found that by the end of the second flying lap in Qualifying, I was on egg shells with the Lancer. Very quickly decided that I wouldn't risk that in the race, so opted for a strategy starting on Mediums and finishing on Hards. Managed 8 laps on the Mediums and was running as high as 3rd on merit during that stint.

Pitted, resumed in 13th, made it back to as high as 4th, but then slipped back to 10th by the end due to others strategies and the absurd track limits through the final chicane I mean you already lose almost a second running wide on the right hand entry, don't gain any places and still get slapped with a penalty for track limits.

Still 10th place after starting 7th, isn't the worst result in the world considering that the Lancer really does need a power increase to keep up with most of the Gr.3 field (couldn't even stay with the GT-R in their slipstream down the front straight) and had some great battles throughout the race in from my view at least was a very clean field of drivers (a couple of bumps here and there, but nothing deliberate or dirty).

And overall I was happy with my race considering tyre saving is not something I even bother with. I just drive at 10 tenths of whatever the car can give me in the moment.

On a side note though. The Vision GT Mazda really needs to be dialled back a long way as either the guy who won my groupings race was well down on his DR rating than normal as in race trim he was almost a second quicker than anyone else that ran Softs during the race, and managed to recover from a spin at Turn 5 on the opening lap to win easily.
My view on doing 6 laps on softs is colored by my experience on laps 10 and 11 on hards. Compared to those the softs felt new even though they were approx half red when I crossed the line.

The final lap of my stint on Hards was the worst grip I have ever experienced in GT Sport.
 
I tired entering, and I quit less than halfway through. I wouldn't call it a "rage-quit" as much it was a "depression-quit." I ended up getting about 1.5 seconds of penalties and an SR down near the end of lap 4 or 5, though I can't remember which lap I was actually on. I spun out on that U-turn on the first lap briefly but got back on course - at the moment, I felt lucky because tons of people were spinning out. But overall, I kept getting passed and I just felt so helpless. It could've been that other players were on mediums or softs, but it still didn't feel encouraging.

My issues could've been due to the emotional issues I was having at the time, and maybe because of some wine I had tonight, too, but I think I was right in my initial sentiments, that maybe I have more important things to focus on in my life than the FIAGTCs. I'm just not feeling well at the moment and I'm looking for meaning in life, especially since I recently interviewed for a job with a local government office and they straight-up told me I might be too smart for it. I've had that issue a lot, where people tell me I'm so smart, but here I am struggling to establish a career in just about anything in particular. I'm very fortunate that my parents are supportive enough insofar that they let me live with them until I can afford to move out, but at 29, I just don't feel well. I think I'll play something else.
 
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It’s been over a year since my last post!

BMW GT3 ‘16

Manu19:00 - All A/S room

- Door 13 - Q5 - P14 for 73 pts

Started on Hards and had a good plan. Survived the first turn and end of first lap was in 3rd... everything going as planned till I make a huge mistake on last turn and ended up in the gravel. Down to 18th.
after that no choice to go for Softs... finished 14 with 2 stops: 4H-8S-5S Fuel at 14% on last stop. Might go again.

20:20 Attempt

Much better. Door 13 - Q12 - P9

11H/6S for 104 points. Good for now . Cheers
 
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Whelp, I'm calling that a one and done.

After all my practice and watching EMEA streams, I decided that consistency and stability were going to be more important tonight than maybe gaining a couple of seconds by pushing softer compounds as far as I possibly could. I ended up running a 9H/8M strategy and I think for my DR it was the right choice.

In qualy I got stuck behind a slow Mustang and couldn't get around him until the back straight. Q11 a full 1.5 sec off my FP time.

The race starts well enough. I stay patient, avoid carnage, don't fight people that get a good run on me into a straight and get myself up to P8 by L5. Then I get full on PIT maneuvered on the right-hander before the back straight. I never saw the guy who did it, so I don't even know who to shake a fist at. On top of that, towards the end of my RH stint, a Lancer almost runs me off again at the same spot. I keep it on track somehow and in front of him as he obviously completely binned it going into me.

I take some solace in the fact that I saved enough fuel that I gained between 4-5 sec on the Lancer when we pit on L9. I do just well enough on my RM stint to move up to P9. I didn't lose DR, got ok enough points for me and actually did better than expected. I'll take the money and run.

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Looks like most of us have had our fair share of punts for tonight. I received 2 more to add to the list, dropping me from p5 to dead last.

So I pitted lap 8, miles behind, brimmed the tank, slapped on some mediums and gave it the berries. Clambered somehow up to p9 and only a couple seconds off of p5. Got to wave as the punter binned it on the last lap.

Some good racing in the midfield though. Really hoping pd don’t go back to multipliers like this again. It’s not fun and it causes more carnage than it’s worth.

:cheers:
 
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One and done for me. It turned out to be a pretty fun race with a few familiar faces, which is always nice. Started P6 after a very ugly Q lap, I was pushing way too hard and the car was squirming all over the place, but I managed not to completely bin it at least. :lol: Gained a spot in T1/L1 when a Porsche 2 cars up went deep, or maybe got bumped, I couldn’t tell. After that it was trying to save tires and fuel, started on Hards and went 11h/6s, so I could push my Softs a bit more if needed. It worked out well and I ended had a fun race with a Jaguar, he seemed to be struggling with his tires a bit, so my tire savings came in handy and I was able to get past him in the end. Finished P4 for 231 points. :)

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