Focused solely on Nations this time round after struggling in test lobbies for Manufacturers. Gelled with the Mustang in practice and stuck with it upon entering the second slot.
Qualified 8th on my first attempt, and decided to go for a mixed-compound, no-stop strategy - mediums front, softs rear. The combo showed promise in practice, at one point allowing me to pull off a total race time comparable to that of an all-soft, no-stop run. Indeed, it would seem as if this strategy was a wise choice, as I managed to shoot up to 6th place on the first half of the opening lap...
Then, as we got to the right-hander before the penalty zone, my race began to fall apart.
After missing the apex, I got tapped out wide onto the blue astroturf, and spun half-way round after touching the gravel. The midfield took advantage of this, and before long I was dropping to the back of the pack like a stone. No matter what I could do, and despite the Mustang's speed advantage on the straights, recovery was difficult, not least since it felt like the front mediums made it less responsive through corners. Dropping a wheel onto the grass right before the final esses on Lap 5 did not help my progress, either.
Thankfully, a mix of consistent lap times and one-stoppers brought me further up the order again. Soon enough, I was pursuing a queue of cars challenging for 8th, 9th and 10th places, and was happy to settle for 11th after a red Megane swept past me and a struggling Lexus on the final lap. But alas, any hopes of a semi-decent finish were dashed. Exiting the penultimate corner, I was punted onto the grass by an approaching Jaguar, which sent me sliding wide on the way into the final esses. Frustrated and dejected, I trundled home in 14th place, taking a measly 581 points.
At first, I wasn't sure whether it would be worth attempting Nations again. After all, my mood and DR rating had taken a knock from the first run, and the last thing I wanted was to make myself feel worse if I failed to get a good finish. But, after taking some time out to clear my head, I bit the bullet and entered the third slot, again with the Mustang.
Qualified 10th, just over four-tenths off the polesitter, who happened to be the red Megane from earlier. Rather than risk the mixed-compound strategy again, I opted to run the race on soft tyres all round, even in the knowledge that they would go off dramatically in the final part of the race. Stormed my way up to 8th on the opening lap, and got involved in a long-running battle for 5th between myself and at least three other cars in front. While we eventually dissipated, I still managed to get some solid moves done, passing a Jaguar and a Lexus on my way up into 6th. This soon became fifth when a one-stopper pulled into pit road on Lap 7...
From that point, I turned my attention towards nursing the Mustang home, at the same time maintaining the gap I had built over the train of cars behind me. Even when my pace, as expected, dropped off dramatically in the closing stages, the squabbling from behind meant that I would hang on to 5th and earn a new personal best score of 1,472 points (one point shy of what was displayed on the results screen).
Not a straightforward evening's worth of racing, but at least I can sleep in the knowledge that the second attempt was worth the risk and excessive tyre wear...
Probably just a new track effect and people are still trying new things, but I'll take any points I can get 
Turns out the medium tyre is much quicker 
