Last night marked the third stage of the Viper experiment. Despite early reservations about the Maggiore Centre II layout - still think Gr.3 is better suited for the GP, East and West configurations - I became fairly confident about my pace after setting a Free Practice time five-tenths off the fastest Viper in EMEA. This followed by a string of consistent runs in test lobbies, where it became apparent that with careful steering/throttle inputs and fuel management, the Viper was more than capable of pulling off a one-stop strategy (Mediums to Hards).
Having established a strategy and sense of pace, I entered the 19:20 Manufacturers slot, once again as the sole Dodge representative. Qualifying was going to be tight with 20 cars and not enough room on track, but thankfully there weren't too many traffic issues at my end. Focused on getting as many solid laps in as I could, the fastest of which was a 44.256. Had a better exit out of Turn 1 on my penultimate lap, but could not improve as I got too close to the Renault in front and didn't want to compromise his own run. Still, my fastest flying lap was good enough for me to start 4th; the gap between me and the pole-sitting Z4 (you're not the only one,
@xxPinkyKissxx 
) was just 0.038 seconds!
As in practice lobbies, my aim for the race was to make the Mediums hold out for as long as possible, before switching to Hards at the half-way mark. I certainly felt that the Viper had a lot of straight-line speed while still being smooth and composed through corners, although even at this stage I was still unsure about how much fuel I needed to take on to get to the end.
Didn't get off to the best of starts; on the first lap, I missed my braking point at Turn 1 and ran wide, while the aqua Lancer Evo behind me lit up the rears on exit and dropped down the order. Despite this, I held on to my initial position, and was able to get close to the rear of the blue and green GT-R in front as he appeared to struggle out of the corners. Moved to the outside on the start of Lap 3 to try and get a cutback on said GT-R; as we round the first corner, I receive a bump from the a blue, black and orange Hyundai behind, which is enough to push me into the GT-R and for the Hyundai to send me into a slide with another tap. This sent me down to 7th, and at the mercy of another tap on the high-speed S's, this time from a Supra. Wasn't really happy with that move, especially more so since the same Hyundai also tapped me going into the penultimate turn a few moments earlier. Nevertheless, I catch up to the group fighting for 3rd, trying my best to keep close while not compromising my own pace and strategy. Kept it fairly clean for this stage of the race, and by Lap 11 began challenging the Peugeot up front for 5th. However, despite multiple attempts, I wasn't able to pass without risking a collision, at which point a WipEout-branded Corvette shows up and begins pressuring me for what would become 4th once again. On fresher Hards, the Corvette gained a lot of ground through corners and kept flashing his lights in my direction; still, I held on until Lap 15, where I took on Hards and came out with 82% fuel.
The idea behind taking on this much fuel was that it would enable me to push flat out on the second stint without having to worry about running empty. In practice, I found that this was more beneficial than taking less fuel and losing time on leaner mixes, but the pace of others who took on Mediums - including a Calsonic GT-R and the AG Systems/Feisar/whatever Corvette from earlier - made place gains difficult. By Lap 22, I was down in 8th, having relinquished places to both of these cars since the start of the stint. It was frustrating not to be in touch with the leaders any more, and I wondered during whether it would've been worth taking on slightly less fuel. But still, I kept the Viper going. With two laps left, I got close to three cars up ahead - the Corvette and both GT-Rs - and inherited 6th as both of the Medium-shod runners pulled in for their last stops. Crossed the line with 8% fuel remaining, for a score of 1,470 points; meanwhile, the pole-sitting Z4 finished third.
All in all, while I was disappointed to lose out on a potential podium finish, the Viper GT3-R is turning out to be just as satisfying to drive as its Gr.4 counterpart. The straight-line speed alone is enough for me to make gains on even the leading contenders. Boosted my DR rating by just over 700 points with this race, and currently sit 299th in EMEA. Even with the blip at the Nürburgring, I'm glad to report that the Viper experiment is so far producing consistent and competitive results.
he passed me as I served my penalty so it wasn't so bad.
I'm guessing they are an alien who started last on purpose to make for an interesting race...
