Well, well, well... tonight's Manufacturers was a roller coaster ride in every sense of the word.
Entered the 19:20 slot
alongside @SmokeyMR2 and @Ashthebash, where I was promptly ranked as the first seed (don't ask me how!). Compromised my first qualifying laps by following an NSX a little too closely, initially setting a personal best of 1:47.559 with my second. Improved to a 1:46.855 on fresh Softs, which was good enough for me to start 9th, just .993 off pole. Not quite close to the 1:46.517 I set in practice, but the Viper, once again, felt like it had good pace beneath it.
After much deliberation, I opted to go for a two-stop again, this time on a Soft/Soft/Hard tyre strategy. Several test lobbies proved that this could potentially work well, providing that I could keep the tyre wear and fuel consumption in check. That meant a lot of short-shifting and mix adjustments throughout, but a best total time of 32:55.479 - set earlier in the morning - suggested that I wouldn't have to sacrifice too much speed in the long-run.
Not going to lie, the first half of the race was wild. Caught up quickly to a couple of groups fighting for 4th and 7th places, the second between a GT-R and a Frentley Mustangtinental, who loses a lot of speed coming out of the downhill S's. The Toyota who started 4th bins it at the final corner; a couple of attempts to pass the Mustang lead to me being passed by a fast-charging McLaren. A compromised run from the last S-bend leaves me on edge, for I am at the mercy of not one, not two, but
four cars trying to slipstream their way past on the start/finish straight. Thankfully, I survive, and catch up to the Mustang's bumper again, eventually passing him with a strong drive up the hill. On Lap 5, I mess up my entry through the final S's, which leads me to believe that my first lot of softs have lost their bite. Rather than risk losing more time - and thus a place to the Lexus - I decided at that moment to pit early for fresh rubber, with precisely 13 laps of fuel remaining.
Returning to the midfield, a battle-scarred Honda is dispatched, then a late lunge on a Citroen brings me right back into the mix for 5th. The black and blue GT-R runs very wide at the second hairpin, as does the Red Bull-liveried Aston (was that you,
@Ashthebash?), allowing me to get into another great scrap which brings the Citroen back into play. Following an off for the
Jamaican-liveried Scirocco and a good run on the Citroen down the main straight, I am up to 7th, which becomes 5th when both the GT-R and Aston run wide at the second hairpin again. This gave me the opportunity to build a gap of 7.7 seconds between myself and the GT-R by the time of my second stop on Lap 11. The frequent battling meant that I had burnt slightly more fuel than I initially planned, so a splash and dash (about 3-4% extra) was also added just to be safe.
Slotting between the Red Bull Aston and a black TT Cup, I engage in a close and patient battle for 6th, which ends up with me taking the place from the Aston on the fast kink after the last hairpin.
A pitstop for the GT-R promotes me up to 5th again; from there, it was a case of getting to the finish without running out of fuel or crashing at the death chicane. Must admit that the pressure began to build up in the final laps when the GT-R made big gains on fresher treads. This was especially apparent through the downhill S's, where I was struggling to get decent lines - and decent speed - on the harder compounds. Yet, despite this deficit, the Viper held on; a last lap with minimal fuel-saving and better lines brought me home in 5th. Some way off challenging Smokey and the McLaren, but good enough for a season-best score of 1,568 points - the highest earned by the Viper experiment so far.
Survived the death chicane with only a few scrapes, and, if my KP statistics are anything to go by, came out less than 500 points away from A+ rank again.
Wow!
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That’s how I qualified. Was feeling confident to finally get a top 10 result!
The race...is still going! I’m sure they’re having a lovely time!! A shameful rage quit from me after 2 big accidents and ending up in last 20 seconds behind the next car.
Thinking of giving up on this series completely now 👎
Don't give up. I've been in similar situations before where chances of a good finish were wiped out by big crashes, penalties or both, and have felt like quitting because of it. Rest assured, these things happen to all of us, even the top split players. The best thing to hope for is for better luck in the next race - you seem to have good qualifying pace within your lobby, that's for sure. 👍