It's taken me a bit longer than usual, but here's my report from the final FIA races of the season. I warn you now, this is going to be a big one:
Manufacturers (19:00)
My initial aim for last night was to try and get my Manufacturers score past the 8,000 point mark, as well as to see if I could make the final push to A+ rank. Having been away until Friday afternoon, I knew that I wouldn't have as much time to practice, and early on I realised that Catalunya wouldn't be one of the Mustang's stronger tracks. I did, however, find that the one-stop strategy on mediums would be more beneficial than trying to go for a no-stopper.
So, onto my first meeting of the night, where I was drawn into a lobby of mostly A+/S-ranked players. Qualifying was fairly solid, even if I had to deal with a Monza-esque queue at the start, and I put in a 1:46.404 on my second flying lap, some 1.4 seconds off the pole-sitting Lexus. Worsening tyre wear put pay on my chances of improving this further, consigning me to 17th ahead of another Mustang.
Having to start before the last chicane didn't help me to begin with, but soon I was beginning to make up places, as the black and green Aston in front punts an Audi off at Turn 5 and hands himself a 4-second penalty. Over the next few laps, the Hyundai behind closes in on me through the more technical parts, while I try my best to look after the tyres and keep an eye on my fuel consumption. On Lap 4, it gets a run and passes me on the inside of La Caixa, moments before the 12th-placed Audi (the 2nd-place starter) loses it at the chicane. This coincides with the first wave of pitstops, promoting us to 12th and 13th places respectively.
Pitting on Lap 5, I find myself in 15th, and gaining a lot of pace on not just the Alfa in front, but also the race leader. I reel in and pass a Supra at turn 9 on Lap 7, before getting up to the back of a train of cars fighting for 11th. On Lap 8, I make another strong run on the white Aston, which results in me passing him around the outside of turn 12. Moments later, I pass the Hyundai down the start-finish straight, securing 12th place and holding onto it for a provisional points haul of 923 points. Considering the quality of the opposition in that lobby, I was quite satisfied with the pace I had, especially in the second half.
Nations (20:10)
To say that I'm a novice with the X2019 is an understatement. Indeed, I thought about sitting this one out entirely, considering that I could only make a maximum of 5 laps in practice without throwing it into a spin. But, having failed to improve on my Manufacturers score or driver rating, and seen other users' experiences with the race, I eventually threw caution to the wind, and gave the 20:10 race a try.
My main strategy was to keep out of trouble as much as possible, and this worked out well in qualifying. Despite facing
another Monza queue in the opening moments, and veering off into the wall after the banked hairpin, I was quite content with setting purple sectors on my second flying lap, which saw me qualify 17th with a 1:37.370.
It was at that point I decided to make a gamble; swapping softs for mediums and hoping that they would last out for a no-stop strategy. Given some of the horror stories I had already read, I wanted to see whether a cautious approach to the race would guarantee a semi-decent finish.
On TCS 3, I made a clean getaway, and decided to hang around the back while others played snooker, went wide or lost control entirely. Going through the banked hairpin was a nightmare; even on the first lap, I lost more than a second to the car behind as I struggled to get good speed in and out of the corner. Even so, I soon found myself on the back of a train for 10th place, only to hit the outside wall after sacrificing two places at the esses after the hairpin. Despite this, various incidents and pitstops up ahead took me up as high as 12th on Lap 5, at which point the rears began to expire. Several offs and slow corners later, I abort the no-stop strategy, pitting in for fresh softs at the end of Lap 8. While the timer ran out just before I reached the line, I still recovered well enough to finish 17th, for a score of only 323 points. And so, that was the end of my Nations campaign...
Manufacturers (21:00)
While doing Nations, I realised that the resulting DR drop could offer me a better chance to secure a higher finish in Manufacturers. With this, I entered the 21:00 race, getting grouped into the same lobby as
@watto79, and came in with the expectation of another finish closer to Red Bull Ring or Sardegna A. Things looked promising in qualifying, where despite overcooking my entry into La Caixa pulled off a 1:46.620 on my first flying lap. There was enough room for improvement, but despite managing to go faster with a 1:46.491, I was mildly frustrated at the time that I was unable to start higher than 16th. In hindsight, that would've been a tall order; just under a second separated the top 15 drivers, including watto79, and my optimal time (1:46.271) would have only gained me one place on the grid.
On the opening lap, the Porsche in 15th runs wide at turn 1, gifting me a position as I began pursuing a trio of cars battling for 12th. A penalty for the Mazda up front helps bring me closer to the trio, but I end up overshooting the apex trying to pass it around the outside under braking into La Caixa, allowing the Porsche to gain ground. Said Porsche punts me wide at turn 5 on Lap 4, although thankfully this isn't enough for me to get an orange arrow. As the battle for 12th intensifies, I pit in earlier along with the Supra and Mazda, in an effort to avoid losing too much time in traffic. This works out well as the Renault gets into the mix and another Porsche spins out on Lap 6; before long, we are hunting down a queue for 8th place. At turn 9, I get a run on the Renault, managing to out-brake and out-accelerate him through La Caixa.
Now up into 13th, I suddenly find a lot of pace over the cars in front, setting purple first sectors as I try to catch up with the Supra and defend from the Porsche that tapped me earlier. The gap between me and the race leader falls rapidly; I miss the apex at turn 13 while trying to fend off the Porsche, who again taps me in the corner prior. Another purple first sector, a solid run on the Supra, more defensive work as the Porsche once again piles on the pressure. Clearing the chicane for the final time, I pull out just enough of a gap to keep 13th over the line. With the way the points system works, this resulted in a new score of 723 points, overwriting my previous performance. A somewhat disappointing end to the season, but another solid charge through the field nonetheless.
Final Results
So, how did I fare across both seasons? For Nations, I finished with a score of 12,557 points, good enough for 357th in EMEA, 54th in the UK and 3rd in my region. This was helped by two solid 7th place finishes in the first two rounds I entered (R12, Gr.1 Maggiore and R13, Gr.2 Fuji), allowing me to pick up 1,105 and 1,176 points respectively. Enjoyed a lot of consistent top 10 finishes as a result, even if I went without a single podium.
For Manufacturers, I couldn't have felt happier with my run. A total score of 7,935 points was enough for me to finish 13th for Ford, 208th in EMEA and 1st in my region by a comfortable margin. The podiums at Red Bull Ring and Sardegna A were clear highlights, bringing me my highest-ever FIA points scores, but I'm still proud to have secured top 10 finishes in all but the two Catalunya races last night. I'd be happy to stick with Ford next season, even if certain tracks didn't suit the Mustangs particularly well.
Overall, these two seasons (plus my short-lived foray into the GR Supra cup) have made me a more consistent and confident driver, and I feel much more able to manage pressure and bad situations than this time last year. I'm looking forward to seeing what the exhibition seasons and 2020 have in store, but for now, I think I've earned a well-deserved break...
I calculated that even if I had done every race perfect, I would only finish at rank 29 max. So defo not world tour material 
This was enough to put me firmly in second split lobbies for the 9pm and 11pm timeslots, and guarantee a place for me in top split for the 1am timeslot in every instance I checked (although I only took that chance once).
🤬 
