Round 1 - Nations Cup @ Spa
I haven’t competed in a Nations Cup event for some months - I don’t find the usual Ferrari F50 Vs. Toyota S-FR Vs. X-Bow events all that interesting, so it was good to hear that familiar theme song again. And it was good to be able to compete at Spa, having missed out on the Spa round of last season’s Manufacturers Cup, due to the infamous Christmas server outage. But it took three attempts in the Gr.4 Jaguar F-Type to get a decent result; good thing they added so many extra time slots. The first attempt was going well until I attempted an overtake on a Cayman at Campus, which slightly bumped them off the line. In my defence they were well off the pace, and carrying a penalty for a cut corner, and I had the correct line. They also remained on the circuit, and this was the only time my vehicle touched another or caused any sort of incident. Yet later through Blanchimont I was rammed at full speed, not by the Porsche, but by a Mercedes whom I’d apparently blocked. This was later repeated on the Kemmel Straight, losing me several places as a result, before I’d finally had enough and returned the favour - ramming them properly off into the sand at Stavelot. They came last, I managed to scrape together a few places, but the damage was already done. I had my hopes up for the second attempt, which was in a higher ranked lobby full of familiar faces, but my qualifying time had me further back in 12th. I was rammed by another driver in the opening laps and was handed a 3 second penalty, finishing at the back of the pack somewhere around 14th, but with more points than my first attempt.
But as they say, third time’s the charm. I started 8th, and had to try and not bin it as the lights went out, the race starting in the middle of the chicane entry. I fell to 10th at the top of Eau Rouge after I understeered and veered left, inadvertently moving out of the path another Jag and an Aston fighting for position. I made steady progress through the field as others came off, chasing down the 7th placed Nismo GT-R, undercutting them on the entry to the chicane. They immediately undercut me on the exit, but I maintained more pace on the uphill out of Eau Rouge on the next lap, and stole 7th under braking at the end of the Kemmel Straight. Up ahead the JPS Aston ran wide on Pouhon, and I was up to 6th. The Nismo returned for more, but then weaved left under braking into the chicane and span, with the Aston driver either missing the exit or changing their mind on whether to pit - the Aston slammed into the pit entry wall.
I managed to get as high as 5th, but needed to pit to refuel and fit the required hard tires. I filled with less fuel than what I thought was required; on my other two attempts I crossed the line with laps of excess fuel, and exited in 7th place behind the Castrol Jag. I pushed a bit too much on the cold tires heading downhill at Bruxelles, cutting the curb and getting a 0.5 sec. penalty, but made it to 6th passing the pits on Lap 7. But behind me an orange Mustang, that had been shunted off earlier through the chicane in the opening laps, began closing in on my rear bumper, just as I realised I wouldn’t have enough fuel to hold him off. That didn’t stop me trying, I set my fastest lap of 2:33:043, but the Mustang had the pace, and I was pre-occupied with keeping the Jag on the track, having narrowly avoided an off after Bruxelles on the final lap. The fuel gauge read 0.0 on Blanchimont, and before the chicane the motor died. I managed to preserve some momentum through the bend, but the Mustang tore away over the line in 6th, and I settled for 7th.
Round 1 - Manufacturers Cup @ Suzuka
I started 10th at Suzuka, but progress up the field was swift thanks to some major accidents on Turn 1. Both the Corvette in 2nd and the Aston in 3rd came off, with the 5th placed Repsol Jaguar going for a spin, and colliding with a Porsche, giving the Porsche a 2 second penalty. On Lap 2 a Supra pushed me off the track on the home straight; I overcorrected and hit a Suburu, which had been attempting a clean overtake over on the right side, the Supra receiving a 2-second penalty. The Repsol Jaguar from earlier came off again at T1, hit by another Jag. The Repsol managed to get back onto the track, but hit a McLaren in the process and came back off, colliding with the other Jaguar a second time. As the Supra served its penalty I moved up to 5th, but had to pit on Lap 6, falling back to 7th. I climbed back to 5th, but couldn’t hold off the pace of a Mazda, which had started from back in the field and had avoided the earlier carnage. I ended up 6th, and decided to leave it at that.
is in that group or close.
