ESES @ Laguna Seca (Results)

[Earth]

ESES
LMP + GT



LMP RESULTS*
1. bhawk776 - Bentley Speed 8 - 86 laps - 1:45'17.352 + 0.000

2. ls2_297 - Pescarolo C60 - 85 laps - 1:45'41.620 +1 LAP

3. Mulsanne - BMW V12LMR - 84 laps - 1:45'12.682 +2 LAPS 19.948 seconds ahead of Earth

4. Earth - Pescarolo C60 - 84 laps - 1:45'32.630 +2 LAPS 23.482 seconds ahead of Sjenk

5. Sjenk - Toyota 7 - 84 laps - 1:45'56.112 +2 LAPS

6. Dark Elite - Audi R8 - 82 laps - 1:45’48.657 +4 LAPS

GT RESULTS*

1. Sjenk - Ford GT LM Spec II - 79 laps - 1:45’48.765 +0.000

2. Dark Elite - Nissan GTR Concept LM - 78 laps - 1:45’11.426 +1 LAP

3. Earth - Ford GT LM Spec II - 77 laps - 1:46'08.880 +2 LAPS

4. ejr_1 - Pagani Zonda LM - 76 laps - 1:45'21.896 +3 LAPS

5. Electric...... - Nissan GTR Concept LM - 74 laps - 1:46'23.200 + 5 LAPS

*Qualifying time penalty not added

Race Notes

First I would like to congradulate bhawk776 and Sjenk for winning their respective classes. Both drivers did what I thought was impossible. bhawk776 won in what I think everybody thought was an inferior closed cockpit LMP, and Sjenk won in a SS car. Shocking, incredible, whatever you want to call it. But give these drivers credit. They overcame the odds and pulled off a win against VERY stiff competition.

This race proved to me that ESES LMP+GT won't be a runaway for any driver. Despite the fact that most positions were seperated by a lap or more, I think the gap will close dramaticaly in the next couple of races. The writeup will most likely tell you why

Class Review LMP -

1. bhawk776 - This guy comes out of nowhere and wins the first race of the season. He only has what, 1 post in the race thread, and that was his Q lap time, which wasnt even very good. Yet he comes out and drives a perfect race and pulls off a huge upset. I dont think he is a one race wonder, no I think he will contend for every race

2. ls2_297 - Very good run by ls2_297. In my opinion the favorite to win the race, but bhawk776 was running on all cyclinders this race and would not be denied. Very strong contender for the championship. Don't look for him to fade anytime soon.

3. Mulsanne - Jumping into the car at the last minute was Mulsanne. Very good run in the BMW V12 LMR. He nudged the #17 Pescarolo of Earth by 20 seconds by driving the wheels off the thing. If there ever was a driving who could get behind any vehicle and make it competitive, it's Mulsanne. Proving the doubters wrong, Mulsanne beat a R8 and a C60 to the finish line. Nice opening statement.

4. Earth - Solid run by Earth. Despite struggling for most of practice and qualifying, Earth managed to put together a decent race. Only real hicup were the reports that the driver got tunnel vision in the closing stages of the race...

5. Sjenk - Finishing only 24 seconds behind the #17 Pescarolo was Sjenk. Despite driving 30 year old equipment Sjenk manages to give the newer cars a scare. Stunning. One can only wonder what would happen if he drove a modern LMP.

6. Dark Elite - The pole sitter drops to the back of the field. How and why this happened will most likely be revealed in the race report, but DarkElite knows what he needs to do to get better. Look for him to rebound next race.

Class Review GT -

1. Sjenk - Driving a SS car, Sjenk runs away from the field in the Ford GT LM Spec II, giving the American manufacturer a win on home soil. Despite the best efforts from the opposition, Sjenk easily wins by a lap. Amazingly talented driving. Looks like the early favorite for a title.

2. DarkElite - Despite completing a solid 77 laps Dark Elite comes up short in his Nissan Skyline GTR-LM. One can only wonder why such a good driver/car combo came up a lap down. Maybe the race report will reveal this?

3. Earth - Earth struggled even more so with his Ford GT LM car. "I just wasn't myself."

4. ejr_1 - The Italian manufacturer was pleased to have ejr_1 drive its race car version of the Zonda, and they got fair results from him. This was the first race for this team, car, and driver. So look for them to get better. Dont expect him to finish in the back every race.

5. Electric..... - After the race some Nissan fans questioned the character of Electric.....or did they? Nissan said that the fans' statements, even if true, does not represent the company nor it's thinking at the moment.

Story Lines ANSWERED

- Who will make a statement? bhawk776 came out of nowhere to lap the entire LMP field. We knew Sjenk was fast, but we, or at least I didn't know about the talent that is bhawk776

- Champion Racing vs Pescarolo Sport. Can Pescarolo stop the Audi dominance? Pescarolo finished 2nd and 4th, while the lone R8 finished 6th. DarkElite is outmanned, but don't expect him to let that hold him down for long.

- Skyline Squadron. How good are they? Dark Elite drove his Sklyine to a second place finsih, BUT the only other Skyline Squadron member, Electric... finished 5 laps off the pace. If Electric... can improve, the Skyline Squadron will be good, but will they be good enough to overtake Ford Racing, which currently holds the GT manufacturer's points lead?

- The lone BMW McLaren F1. How good will it be? Due to F1, and the amount of time and money BMW invests in it, the lone BMW McLaren F1 entry was scrapped. It's a shame, BMW would have done so much for ESES LMP+GT.

- Can the Speed 8 and BMW V12LMR challenge Audi and Pescarolo? Can they challenge Audi and Pescarolo? Yes. Can they beat them? Yes. Can they win the championship? Yes

Points table will be done by Dark Elite. Hopefully he will post it here.

 

[Sjenk]

Lol fantastic! Maybe an advice to you all to use superstock cars as well?

Edit: CUT

Congratulations bhawk776 with winning the LMP class, the Toyota 7 can't do that Well, anyway, in Infineon the Toyota 7 will be able to be a 'serious' enemy, but after that teh car will probably take a break. Fuji had a straight that might be too long, Le Mans is just impossible with his 335 km/h top speed and very long straights. Suzuka can be done woth this car and the Nurburgring should be possible as well (yes, it does have long straights, but the tracks is very long, so mistakes are easier to make and I should make profit of that )

I will continue using the Ford GT of course. I don't have a huge disadvantage with that car.

Btw: Should I post my Toyota 7 race report now or should I wait until Mulsanne is done with his complete race report?

And yes, I'm really interested what happened with Dark Elite!

 

[Electric.......]

Heh...... hopefully I will find a better setup for next race,plus I almost always suck on Laguna Seca,that damned Corkscrew had me totally "corkscrewed"...............
When is the next race?

 

[Earth]

Wait until Mulsanne has the complete report up before posting any race reports. It may take more than a week though

Media such as pictures or video may be posted here.

edit: Next race will start as soon as I can get a thread up and will be due 2 tuesdsays from now

 

[Sjenk]

Roger that Earth. Well, in that case I will wait until Mulsanne is done until I posts screenshots (since they fit in my race report)

I will remove one comment of mine, Mulsanne should say that, not me (right now)

 

[bhawk776]

Wow! I knew I ran a pretty good race but I wasn't expecting to get the win.

Anyhow, congrats to all that submitted!

Sorry for not posting more than I did Earth but knew that the chances of getting pole where slim to none so didn't put very much time in to qualifying.

I'll post more details and my setup after Mulsanne posts the race report. 👍

EDIT: By the way, I posted twice in the race thread.

 

[Mulsanne]

Earth: I really appreciate the comments, but I only completed 83 laps, so I should be classified 5th in LMP. The way I drove, I didn't deserve a podium spot. 👎

Major congratulations to bhawk776 and Sjenk for their class wins. Great job, guys. 👍 👍

DE, buddy, what happened? With that awesome qualifying time, I expected you to run off into the distance. We'll get them at Sears Point. (I still can't bring myself to say "Infineon Raceway." )

Guess I need to go to school and learn how to tune the suspension properly. The BMW seemed like it had very little mechanical grip on race tires. Either that, or I need to learn how to drive. When typing my race report, I couldn't believe the number of spins and trips through the gravel.

Earth: Thanks for putting this together and giving us endurance nuts a place to race. 👍 👍

 

[Earth]

Earth: I really appreciate the comments, but I only completed 83 laps, so I should be classified 5th in LMP. The way I drove, I didn't deserve a podium spot. 👎

You completed 83 laps but for this race you are to put the lap count # after you cross the SF, so that would bump you up one. Ex you are on 1hr 45 mins and you complete lap 83. Next lap is 84 so that is what you record. I completed 83 laps but I put 84...weird I know. Everybody else did it that way. But next race at infineon is different

edit: I'll send you the reports tommorow or some time soon

 

[Mulsanne]

Okay. I'll take it, but I still think I didn't deserve a podium spot with the way I drove.

Look forward to reading the race reports and seeing what I can cook up.

 

[Sjenk]

Yeah, but my Toyota 7 run was also quite terrible (fun though). I said that in the 'cut' part, but I gave too much details there

 

[ls2_297]

2nd, 2nd is good... but watchout... my favourite track is comming!

 

[Dark Elite]

Sorry for my late reply, I somehow missed this out (cheers Sjenk )

I'm quite pleased with my finish 👍 very well done to Sjenk - there wasn't a lot I could improve on, so you did good to beat me. Congratulations.

I won't even comment on my LMP performance, I knew it was a disaster so I'll leave that alone and try to make up for it well done to bhawk for your excellent performance!

DE, buddy, what happened? With that awesome qualifying time, I expected you to run off into the distance. We'll get them at Sears Point. (I still can't bring myself to say "Infineon Raceway." )

Cheers my man. Don't ask what happened... You'll get my comments in the race report, hopefully, but suffice to say for now it was my crappy tyre choice.

I'm just waiting for the Sarthe and the Nordscheife, then I should catch up

I'm working on the leaderboard right now.

EDIT

Electric..... - After the race some Nissan fans questioned the character of Electric.....or did they? Nissan said that the fans' statements, even if true, does not represent the company nor it's thinking at the moment.

What's the Champion manager going to be saying to me then!

Leaderboard done.Yes I added the pole position points (all ten were mine, how could I forget ) and because of that the GT Class is as close as it could possibly be at this stage! Looks to be one hell of a season between you and me Sjenk, let's go!

DE

 

[Sjenk]

Hehe, well we're indeed going to have a nice fight

Btw: The leaderboard is not correct: "Laps completed" should be "Current Lap". I haven't completed 79 laps, only 78. Earth asked us to note down in which lap you were after the 1:45'00 mark, not how much laps you've completed (is changed for the rest of the season). So if you still want to note down how much laps everyone has completed, everything should be -1