I went down, down, down, and the flames went higher. And burns, burns. burns, the Ring of fire. The Ring or fire.... So I had jack of this whole fuel saving malarkey and did race B last night, and that screwed me over, so back to "strategy". Strategy being a no stop because I'm not fast enough to go balls to the wall, pit and come out better than 10 places lower than when I pitted

.
I tried a bunch of cars that I knew were fast, and I thought might be viable... but I couldn't get any of the 🤬 to 🤬 turn

! My main criterion was how well it turned into T1 and managed T3 and more importantly, the exit to T4. I was going so wide I was slamming into the wall with a number of them

. When I used the 4C it was a delight, turn, give it some gas and the throttle took care of the turn. In the end I had to settle for what was kinda working for me. Still couldn't improve on my older qualy, but I did come close with the Hyundai of all things (hey, I was getting desperate

). I was still at least a second off the pace, and on a mixed grid of DR/B and C that had me starting P10/19.
The start was less than ideal... pointing at the sand trap when auto drive cut out. I managed to keep it on the track (just) and started short shifting. Approaching T1 I had a pesky WRX swerve out and slam on the brakes in a cloud of smoke trying to out brake me and cut up the inside. He overshot and I was able to pass under him. Not as elegant as I had hoped, but he had forced me out of position. He was all over the place trying to drift and trying to force his way up the inside. He hit me a few times. A couple of cars had spun out at T5 and the WRX had picked up a 1s penalty for cutting at T3. I finished lap 1 P8 with the WRX in front.
I had gotten sick of his antics, and had hoped to have the delight of driving through him when he served his penalty. No such luck.. I was kinda focused on staying on the track and saving fuel. I closed the gap, but Lap 2, still P8 behind him. I got him on the final corner at the end of lap 3 to finish the lap P7. One thing i will say about the Genesys, it isn't upset by kerbs. The chicane was easy to deal with. Turn in for that final corner was also better than the WRX, hence my pass. He dive bombed me at Dunlop and I had to pull a Hail Mary with the brakes and the down shift to stay out of the sand. There was yet another WRX behind him flashing away. I ignored it and resisted the temptation to brake check him because he was 🤬 me off!
The WRX in front misjudged and went too far inside, and the WRX behind me overtook both of us, with me in the middle, and another blue car of some description in the mix, as well as a Lambo. I was worried about the Lambo, because whenever there is a Lambo in a race, they *always* find me and knock me off the track

. A FakeSix dashed up the inside at the chicane for a very clean and slick overtake, but he over cooked it and went a bit too far on the inside of the exit. I picked up a 0.5s penalty along the way

. The STI which was now behind me was sporting a 3s penalty. I finished lap 4 P7. The WRX was in such a hurry to get past me so that I could drive through him in the penalty zone

. Meanwhile the Lambo was flashing his lights like that was somehow supposed to mean something to me. I'm not a back marker, so you can 🤬 off mate!
People pitted. Lap 5 saw me cross P5 right up the arse of the Lambo that had passed during the penalty. I started lap 7 in P4 when people pitted. I had a Lexus with an Idolmaster livery behind me till the final lap. He picked up a 1s penalty, but I had started the last lap with 1.0 laps of fuel left, so i was still in fuel saving mode. Tyre wear wasn't too bad.. I had been consistently lapping about the same times... consistently slow

. He caught up and we were side by side at the chicane. He was in the inside, so I backed off and let him through... P4 wasn't worth potentially having us both go off. P5 from P10 was good enough for me

. The story doesn't quite end there. Last lap syndrome had taken over the TT behind me, who was desperate to pass me on the final corner, despite carrying a 1s penalty... he wasn't going to be more than 1s ahead of me across the line, so he still finished P6...muppet

.
Blue SR. I sauntered up to those boarder guards with the AK47's flanking the gates to DR/B, held out my passport and got my temporary visa stamped. One of guards turns to me. "So you have the entry papers, but don't expect a warm welcome. We don't like your kind here. " he says with a snear

. I reckon I have 1 race in me before I get deported.