Did my first FIA races at A+ rank last night, still feeling the satisfaction of last Wednesday's triumph:
Nations Cup (17:00)
First up was the 17:00 Nations, which I took part in alongside
@SmokeyMR2 and
@Ashthebash. Chose the GT-R - one of two in the lobby - on account of its blistering straight-line speed, after encouraging early practice runs in this and the Porsche. Set two solid laps and a couple of purple first sectors, the fastest a 1:31.855. Had just enough time for a third lap, but went in too hot at the Senna S's and had to settle for 8th on the grid. Only five-and-a-half tenths off pole, which was jointly-shared between an RCZ and a Huracan!
Made a last-minute gamble to start on the Medium/Hard mix, which proved especially tricky with my lack of practice on this mix along with the torque and tail-happiness of the GT-R. Wasn't too concerned about losing places early on as my main aim was to keep it as smooth and gentle as possible through corners. For much of the opening stint, I succeeded in following an Italian AMG through as the two-stoppers - including the joint pole-sitting Lambo - pitted for the first time. A twitch coming out of Turn 13 on Lap 7 saw me go over the kerb and career into the barrier, killing most of my speed and allowing two AMGs - one of whom was Smokey - and an orange Porsche to battle with me for 7th. Had a little bit of contact with Smokey as I hugged the kerb at Turn 8, only to then survive a punt from the Porsche which sends me into a slide. Thankfully the GT-R's straight-line punch allowed me to get back into range for 7th until my stop for Mediums. Careful short-shifting ensured I had saved at least two extra laps' worth of fuel during this stint.
Coming back out onto Reta Oposta, I notice Ashthebash approaching in the Porsche and defend my position while trying to brake gently on my colder treads. Ash goes round the outside, but runs out onto the kerb as I try to leave him enough room, allowing me to surge back past on the inside through Descida do Lago. Thank you Ash for your compliments about my driving there - I was concerned that I was being too forceful in my defence, but I'm glad we both made it out fine.
Ash continues to follow me as I gain rapidly on Smokey and the orange Porsche from earlier. I jump a Portuguese AMG on the two-stop and avoid the Porsche as he fishtails his way through Pinheirinho. Made a couple of attempts to pass Smokey - taking advantage of the GT-R's pace - but didn't want to battle too hard in case I made mistakes and potentially threw away a good finish. I was happy to settle for 9th until the Portuguese AMG cut the kink going into the final straight, handing himself a 0.5 second penalty within sight of the flag. With this, the Castrol GT-R bagged 8th place and 178 points. This has put me in really good stead for my Nations rankings so far - 110th in EMEA, 14th in the UK and 1st in my region by a fairly comfortable margin.
Manufacturers Series (21:00)
This Manufacturers season, I've decided to sign up for Citroen after an encouraging test lobby with
@breeminator for the Red Bull Ring round (which I ultimately decided not to enter due to tiredness, hype from my Nations victory and the underlying need to preserve my A+ rank on Kudosprime in case anything went belly-up). Wasn't entirely sure how I would fare here with the mistakes I kept making in practice lobbies, but learning breeminator's approach to the first corner and putting in a couple of clean-ish sessions helped me considerably. A race time of 24:09.365 in my final test lobby looked promising, but knowing how savage the Sardegna C II layout can get, I wasn't hoping to get much out of this one.
Entered the 21:00 slot with a couple of familiar faces from Nations. Through an incident-filled qualifying session, I put in a few smooth, solid laps on Softs to take third on the grid; the fastest being a 51.963. Traffic and a worn left-rear put paid to any further improvements, but considering the issues I had in practice, I was more than happy with being two-tenths behind the Italian AMG and French orange Supra.
Starting this high up, it felt like a no-brainer to do the first stint on Softs and keep up with the two leaders. Turned out that the next best-placed AMG (orange and black) started on the Medium/Hard mix, which left me with a good traction advantage as I hounded the Italian AMG and Supra round. The Supra in particular seemed very aggressive, at one point turning into me as I committed to the inside of Turn 1 and punting the AMG wide on the very next lap. It seemed from my replay that he got caught out by the AMG braking suddenly on the entry into Turn 1, but either way, both cars run wide, make contact again, the AMG is sent to the grass and I sweep round the outside of the Supra going through the esses. With that, I take the lead, and the 4-second penalty the Supra picked up for this incident nullifies the pressure he initially sets on me. Managed the softs well, but a slide on Lap 5 hurt my left-rear considerably as I began pulling away from the AMG on MH. By Lap 9, I knew the first lot of Softs had lost their edge, and decided to pit for Hards in order to save my second set for the final push.
With the less grippy compounds in mind - plus the chronic wear that the left-rears were suffering - I was not too concerned about being reeled in by said AMG as he took advantage of the Softs. A consistent set of low-53 second laps enabled me to hold out until Lap 18, at which point I graciously let the AMG through on the run down the start-finish straight. After a whopping 11-lap stint, I followed the AMG into the pits at the end of Lap 20, taking on softs once more. From that point, it was a straight duel between ourselves, and it didn't take long for me to realise that I was rapidly gaining on him. A win was on the cards again as I pressured the AMG towards the closing stages; on Lap 26, I passed him for the lead down into Turn 1. On the final lap, the AMG fights back, gaining the slipstream before suddenly swerving to the right and forcing me to go left to leave him enough room to pass. Side-by-side we go through Turn 1, and a moment of understeer from the AMG causes us to make contact as I try to get a clean exit around the outside. Amazingly, I pull out in front and withstand further pressure until the AMG goes wide exiting the final corner. From there, it was a straight run to victory, 254 points and a fantastic Manufacturers debut for Citroen.
On the night, I had reasonably high hopes for this duo. But picking up a second FIA win in two weeks at this level? Get in there!
!
