Nations - Round 3
What an absolute shambles. I had really been looking forward to thrashing a Gr.1 Le Mans car around the home of Le Mans itself, but as has often been the case in GT Sport, other players had other ideas. I ditched the Audi R18 at the last moment and went with the Toyota TS050 Hybrid, as this has often been the car to beat in previous Gr.1 rounds. Qualifying was unremarkable, I started from 7th and stuck to mediums, hoping they would go the full distance. But all race plans went out the window as the lights went out - I stuffed the launch and was 9th in the blink of an eye, blocked out by an SRT Tomahawk an an Audi who were trying to avoid a 962 ahead, which had also failed to launch. Things couldn’t get much worse I thought, on approach into Turn 1. At that moment a Peugeot shot in off the track from my left, and speared into a car in front, and then wedged itself in the middle of the corner. I had nowhere to go and hit the Peugeot’s side with full force, spinning 90 degrees the other way and stuck facing the sand. Some 5-6 cars were involved in the accident, and I quickly found myself in last place, but determined to finish to at least report the Peugeot driver for being a Grade A Bell End.
Finally managing to get the Toyota pointing the right way, I set off in the hope of ruining the Peugeot driver’s race. I didn’t have to go far - they had missed the entry to Tetre Rouge and was off the circuit - only 10 more places to go I thought. But with the quality of driving I witnessed on the rest of Lap 1, I began to think that was in fact an achievable goal. As the accident total grew and the penalties began to mount, I moved further and further up the places table, passing an Audi that pitted on Lap 2 and moving into 9th.
I passed the 962 that had earlier blocked the race start, and avoided an accident with another Toyota in the second chicane, as a Mazda LM55 tried to muscle in on the Toyota’s line, resulting in a crash and handed the Toyota an undeserved penalty. However, heading into Indianapolis I braked and geared too hard too soon, only to narrowly avoid an attempt by the other Toyota to ram me off the track, approaching the left hander hugging the left side and then spearing up the bank right towards me (I later reported them too). As the race progressed and the tires wore, I considered pitting on Lap 4, but ended up posting my FL of 03:27:474, so decided to stay out as others pitted behind me. The last lap was tense as the car began to slip and slide, but I maintained a 5 second lead crossing the line in 4th.
Manufacturers Round 3
I wasn’t expecting much from Tokyo - I’ve never done terribly well on these circuits. The wall penalties are too easy for other drivers to exploit, and I always struggle to get that first right hand turn. So it was quite a shock to be top of the time sheets after Lap 1. So shocking in fact I then rammed right into the 10th placed driver ahead of me an incurred a 2 second penalty, which put me back to 3rd for qualifying.
As the lights went out I managed to move into second, as the 1st placed Jag hit the wall of T1, but before long they were back ahead in 2nd, with an orange BMW closing in behind me. And so began the longest game of cat and mouse I’ve ever been part of, defending 3rd place for some 10 laps. The BMW managed to pull alongside a few times, and also managed to slip by once or twice, on the hairpin into the final straight.
But the BMW couldn’t match the Aston for power, and I would draft them each time they passed, pulling ahead by T1 of the next lap. I crossed the line in 3rd only just ahead of the BM. What a battle!
!!
. I thought, Ok I may get P15 if lucky P11 I got P7
