FIA Race Discussion [Archive]

[Lost Sheltie]

Qualifying went ok, but I ended up catching the guy in front so I lost a few tenths through the twisty part of the track, thus ended up 11th.

Thought I would try the Mediums to begin with, which was a good idea apart from the fact they were stone cold at the start. I ran wide on the 1st corner and then got a tank slapper going through the chicane. Luckily no-one hit me (too badly) as I weaved across the track so I only lost a few places.



After that I settled down into a quiet-ish race where I just tried to save fuel and stay out of trouble. Pitted on lap 9 for a set of softs and ran that to the end. I did have to save fuel towards the end so I let a guy past at the hairpin on lap 16, but that was about it. Ended up moving up to 6th, so will call that a reasonable success.

 

[Winnie847]

Went with a 2-stopper at Nations and got the win in the 2nd split lobby, first slot. 8S/2M/8S, saving fuel the whole race. Pole position meant the dirty air benefited me...I’ll take it. Here’s the race

 

[C_Raccoon23]

Did the first slot of today's race. There was quite a bit of variety in the lobby I got: in addition to the TS050, there was the R18, 919, and an LM55. I qualified 8th, so my pit strategy was 10M/8S. I decided to race safe for this one. I didn't bother trying to cut the chicane (you know the one), as I was inconsistent with it in practice. I also didn't have much contact with the other racers, which was a bit surprising, but based on my last Gr. 1 experience at Tokyo, I have no complaints about that.

The other top five racers were all in TS050 as well. Just shows how much of an advantage this car had at this combination.

 

[barak181]

I didn't get enough practice in, especially considering that it's a Gr1 race. I qualified P7, binned it in the first chicane, had some good laps, quite a few bad laps, finished P13. I guess I'll consider it a warmup.

Highlight of the race:


Edit for race 2:

I don't get what it is with me and this track - this happened last season, as well - but for some reason I start horribly here.

Second race, I qualify P4.


Probably could have been higher but I had some guy slam on his brakes hard going into the chicane on my second flying lap and I hit him hard. Anyway, as I alluded to earlier, I have a horrible start. I go off track in the turns after the hairpin on each of the first two laps and end up playing catch-up the rest of the race. Long story short, I finish P7. 6M/6S/6S. My DR is almost exactly what it was at the start of the day.

 

[TAU_GTP]

Actually had a somewhat orderly race today 👍
Am still nearly 40 points short of my 300+ total goal for the pre-season though 👎

 

[ToddSalad]

Ppl are saying they don't have to fuel save? Wtf? I'm driving the TS050 and had to fuel save a ton. Bleep that. Next race I'm giving it hell and I'll refuel.

 

[Lion-Face]

Race with Lion-Face, now with more face!

 

[das89ca]

Oh well, just realised that this race will be another Gr.3 Ferrari torture. After time trial testing yesterday was ok, I did an online lobby in the morning.

As soon as you get some tyre wear on the rear(so after 3-4 laps on Softs and about 6 laps on Mediums) the chicane just becomes a matter of luck. Lost the rear 4 times while in 3rd gear(to avoid snaps in 2nd gear). And is again a matter of keeping TC0, more stable during the race, buth higher risk at the chicane or moving to TC1, risky during the race when trying to catch the "normal" ass slides of the 458, but a bit more stable in the chicane - with the mention that if it's gone, it's gone - no chance to catch it with TC1.

Today any decent result will be taken. And by decent I mean everything above 15th.

 

[SweatyC]

Good race and very happy with 2nd! Qualified 8th and was going to start on mediums but forgot to change from softs as I was too busy reading all the insults from people in the lobby blaming each other for ruining laps

I feel a little guilty as I bumped into the car in front at the pit hairpin and he received a 2 second penalty. Looking in my mirror it was just carnage behind with a sea of red flashing penalties. Moved through to 3rd after a couple of laps and the 3 of us pulled out a big lead. Eventually got into 1st and stayed there for a half the race. Supra behind me caught up and with the draft went past on lap 16 on the back straight. He gently brushed the side of my car as he passed and I got a stupid 1 second penalty for it!! Annoyed as could have challenged for win but more than happy with a 2nd

Can just see this race as one of those where if you don’t get away from the pack at the start, brace yourself for a race of penalty tennis!!

 

[LeGeNd-1]

Absolute anarchy in second split Manu today. People were queuing up in quali because no one wants to be in front without a draft. I don't care so I was the car in front. An AMG drafted me into T1 and with the OP draft he caught up quickly and tried to pass on the inside, overshot and hit the wall. I tried to avoid him and ended up getting hit from behind so got a penalty. No problem, just pit for fresh tyres and try again. Just my luck, ended up qualifying in front of him. I even apologised before the race but he stayed silent. Race time, got thru the esses cleanly. Brake early for the hairpin and took a late apex but the same guy just went for a divebomb and around I go straight to last place. Of course no penalty for him.

Further on, people were divebombing everywhere. Never a penalty for the guy diving, always the guy on the outside. People were weaving on the straights trying to break the draft. Staying in the middle of the road after a penalty. Total and utter chaos. New penalty system is still a dud. And this is just preseason. I dread to think of the driving standards in the actual season when stakes are higher

Just for context, from last place I pitted the next lap (from RM to RS). Got about 4 laps in before getting blocked again by the tail end of the pack so decided to pit again for RM to go the end. Car handles like wet noodles in the last 3-4 laps, and yet despite a highly compromised race and completely messed up strategy, I managed to claw back up to 12th (10 seconds behind the AMG who punted me on first lap). Pro tip people: sometimes if you work together instead of trying to pass all the time, you can get a better result. Unless it's the last corner of the last lap, minimising total race time is more important than track position in these FIA races (unless someone is obviously much much slower than you, like >1sec per lap slower).

I was running 2nd in this race about 1 second behind the leader before belting the sausage kerb and putting it in the fence. A little annoying but regrouped to finish P3 in the next race. I didn't practice much before today and have never liked DT Gardens, but ended up liking this combination... not sure about that kerb though.

The dirty air effect wasn't terrible here, but it was enough to make you realise when you were chewing up your tyres when following another car within slipstream range.

Yeah I'm not really a fan of the sausage kerbs either. It seems like a lottery whether you can ride it or not. At Laguna for example it's clear to avoid them. At RBR and Barcelona you can plow them. At DTG it's 50:50 whether you make it or not. If PD wants us to cut the chicanes, just remove the sausages. If you put sausages there, then make it so there's a consequence for hitting them instead of making them the GT equivalent of Mario Kart's turtle shells.

Ppl are saying they don't have to fuel save? Wtf? I'm driving the TS050 and had to fuel save a ton. Bleep that. Next race I'm giving it hell and I'll refuel.

You can save fuel, but the time loss on track saving is going to be more than the amount of time refuelling. With the Tomahawk I lose 1 sec a lap saving to avoid a fuel stop. But going flat out you only need to stop for 4 secs max. Losing 1x18 secs vs 4x1 secs, you can do the math which is faster. The TS050 is the most fuel efficient Gr.1 car so it should be even less time loss refuelling.

 

[LotusEvoraGTE]

I waited until the 1.56 update to choose a Manufacturer and... rolled with the DBR9 GT1 over the Vantage GT3. Self-imposed challenge? Probably. Seeing as I'm not A+ I could probably get away with this...

Anyway I ended up qualifying P6 but ended in P7. Could've kept P6 or gone higher but a few unfair penalties said "no". Regardless, I think this old dog's learned a few tricks...

 

[Lost Sheltie]

I did a little testing on tyre wear.

Pretty much as you would expect. FF cars struggle the worst, then 4wd, and then it is pretty close between FR and MR cars. They do seem to have closed up the difference between the best and worst cars, but I still think I would avoid the mighty Pug. I was also a bit surprised by how good the Jag and Hyundai felt. Supra probably would have done better if I had pushed the BB back to 0.

 

[skyline1683]

I’m literally dreading the EU slots tonight with current penalty system you may as well gift the win to the desperate dive bombers because they won’t get a penalty you will, I just got to 60k in dr points and I’m thinking is it worth risking it when I’ve already got 3 solid races under my belt so far .

 

[stpatty]

First attempt at Nations last night was in the Audi which is usually my choice when the Hybrids are out. I qualified 9th after a pretty bad qualifying lap so I felt good. I made up one position on the first lap starting on mediums. Then at the chicane on lap 2, a laggy South African in 6th just stopped in the middle of it. Concertina. Disaster. I also got dived twice by the same French guy later on. I finished 9th after actually finishing behind him. He got a 5 second penalty on the last lap for driving a Swede in a Tomahawk off the track at the left hander after the hairpin. Clown.

I watched the replay (and @LVS_1986's fantastic 2nd place) and discovered the Toyota was a much better option. 3 laps' worth more fuel! And a hybrid that doesn't die after the first straight! What a combo. Put in what I thought was an okay qualifying and started 14th. I had started on mediums in the Audi and was doing the same here, but I was going 8/5/5 rather than 6/6/6.

A lot happened in this race so I'm going to watch the replay and put it down here on a lap by lap basis rather than try and recount it all with paragraphs - I'd never remember it all:

Lap 1: Only a few cars started on mediums, 3 of us inside the top 15. At turn one, an Italian went wide, clipped the grass and spun. A Scot and a Czech binned it through the chicane and I passed a Russian on the exit. I got forced wide buy the car ahead of me at the hairpin but made up two places through the esses as cars went off. Up to 10th.

Lap 2: A Dutchman in a Porsche serves a penalty. The leader at this point is an Irishman in a Toyota who is probably five seconds ahead of 2nd. Even though I'm on mediums the group from 3rd to 8th is very close and I'm happy to stay behind them anyway. Up to 9th.

Lap 4: German goes wide out of the hairpin and collects the Spaniard in 8th when he comes back on. Thankfully spins off to the right rather than the left when I reach him. The Irishman in the lead bins it at the multi-apex right and the lead is taken by a Frenchman in an Audi. Up to 7th.

Lap 5: Russian in an Audi in 6th bins it coming out of the chicane. Frenchman in the Audi pits from soft to soft, comes out in 3rd. Up to 6th. At this point I'm behind the French guy I mentioned in my first race.

Lap 6: Brit in a Porsche and French in an Audi pit from soft to medium. Up to 4th. My fastest lap at this point is a 1:20.2 on lap 2.

Lap 8: Irishman and Russian in Toyotas pit from softs to mediums. Russian had done no fuel saving so took longer. I made a late call to come in here. I had planned a 2-stop but the pace seemed decent and consistent on the mediums, and another lap of running in clear air looked nice. There was a decent gap behind me though, so I pitted and came out in 6th.

Lap 9: Irishman comes out the pits in 2nd. The Russian who started behind me catches up right as he unghosts. The Irishman clips the grass on the inside and slides and smacks the Russian into the wall, who ends up facing the wrong way as I pass him. The other Russian and the Brit in Toyotas have caught up to the Irishman at the braking zone for the chicane. The Irishman moves across as he unghosts and the Russian panics, moving to the right and knocking the Brit off the track, picking up a 7 second penalty. Back to 4th.

Lap 10: By this point the Frenchman in the Audi is miles ahead in 1st. He's coming on to the pit straight as me and the Irishman are coming out of the long right hander. On this lap he makes a mess of it though and has a wiggle coming through the exit. I'm up to 3rd after the Russian served his penalty.

Lap 11: The Audi in the lead pits and refuels, coming out on mediums in 3rd behind myself and the Irishman.

Lap 12: The Brit in the Toyota pits and goes from mediums to softs.

Lap 13: I eventually go for a pass on the Irishman into the hairpin. I went up the inside and hit him on exit. He then drives into me and tries to take me off, I brake to try and avoid it and let him go, with the Frenchman in the Audi behind us passing me too. At the time I thought the guy was a clown who couldn't take being passed - he was, clearly - but after the replay I saw I went very wide on exit. We both took normal lines through the corner but the contact was my fault. We were level coming out even after the hit so he could probably have kept the place through the next right hander, but he tried to force me off. He looked a bit strange the whole race actually. His connection was green but he was moving about erratically as if he was lagging. I don't know if that played a part here or if I just misjudged it.

As I got slowed up by the Audi passing me through that right hander, the Irishman drove off the track at the final left in the esses. The French guy followed. I pitted and took on fuel, coming out in 4th with the Irishman on old mediums, the Frenchman on fresher mediums, and the Russian on worn mediums. The Brit behind me in 5th had softs a lap older than mine.

Lap 15: The Frenchman in the Audi bins it at the long right hander. Up to 3rd.

Lap 16: Going into the chicane, something weird happened. I was to the left of the Russian, I moved slightly to the right under braking and nudged him out the way. The thing is, I didn't remember moving the way I did when I watched it back. There was also no noise or feedback from the collision, which happened at ~130mph. Shortly after at the hairpin the other Brit passes him too. This was also my fastest lap of the race with a 1:19.1.

Lap 17: After nibbling at the Irishman's ruined mediums all laps I force him tight to the inside coming up for the last corner before doing a perfect cutback.

Lap 18: I genuinely could not remember any of this happening even as I was driving, but the other Brit took 2nd at the chicane. Watching it back I was also a bit disappointed that I had seemingly given up on regenerating the hybrid by this point compared to the other podium finishers, but I don't think I'd ever used the Toyota in a race before.

I think I had calmed down about half an hour later. What a race.

 

[barak181]

Qualified 8th and was going to start on mediums but forgot to change from softs as I was too busy reading all the insults from people in the lobby blaming each other for ruining laps

This made me laugh too hard.

 

[Cerebral303]

I had a pretty uneventful race yesterday qualifying 3rd in the Toyota, running 10 laps on soft and 8 medium. Near the end of the soft run I was too far to the outside of the right right right said red section and lost the back end and a good load of time so 5th place was acceptable. Last lap 6th place was closing the 3-4 second gap, and I had enough fuel for 0.8 laps as I went over the line so had to be careful with the throttle and short shift, while also keeping far enough ahead. Decided not to be too cautious and had 0% as I tackled the final double corner. Started to power out of the corner, and the fuel went. The car started coasting, and I could see 6th place come round the corner. After a tense couple of seconds I rolled over the line and a second or two later so did 6th place. The car didn't let me down, and I did no fuel saving the whole race. Love it.

The great thing about the TS050 on this circuit is how the hybrid launches you out of corners, and the straights and chicanes are well balanced so you always have power at the start of each straight and don't spend too long being caught up by the Audis.

 

[timekiller001]

Streaming practice and FIA manufacturers now:

EDIT: One and done for me ;-)

 

[stpatty]

I've said it before, but I think I've peaked in this game

First picture tells its own story. The other GT-R qualified 2nd and took a weird line through the twisty stuff at the start. Coming out of the hairpin he got tagged by a Porsche on his inside and went down to 18th. I drove away, and that was that.

The gap kept widening so I saved a bit of fuel through the first sector each lap and ran the mediums until my lap times went into the 1:35 range. No problems. Lovely.

 

[Benay79]

Delighted with 3rd after qualifying 10th! Wasn’t looking forward to it reading all the comments about penalties and being mid field thought I’d get caught up in all the trouble. Started on Mediums and Made it up to 7th and spent a while swapping positions with car in 8th. A few cars pitted around lap 7/8 and I found myself in 4th. Came in on lap 9 for softs and rejoined in 8th but a few of the drivers still hadn’t pitted so they peeled off leaving me in 4th again. Made one more position passing someone serving a penalty

Did have to serve a 3 second penalty for being hit by a divebomber but forgive them now

 

[LVS_1986]

First attempt at Nations last night was in the Audi which is usually my choice when the Hybrids are out. I qualified 9th after a pretty bad qualifying lap so I felt good. I made up one position on the first lap starting on mediums. Then at the chicane on lap 2, a laggy South African in 6th just stopped in the middle of it. Concertina. Disaster. I also got dived twice by the same French guy later on. I finished 9th after actually finishing behind him. He got a 5 second penalty on the last lap for driving a Swede in a Tomahawk off the track at the left hander after the hairpin. Clown.

I watched the replay (and @LVS_1986's fantastic 2nd place) and discovered the Toyota was a much better option. 3 laps' worth more fuel! And a hybrid that doesn't die after the first straight! What a combo. Put in what I thought was an okay qualifying and started 14th. I had started on mediums in the Audi and was doing the same here, but I was going 8/5/5 rather than 6/6/6.

A lot happened in this race so I'm going to watch the replay and put it down here on a lap by lap basis rather than try and recount it all with paragraphs - I'd never remember it all:

Lap 1: Only a few cars started on mediums, 3 of us inside the top 15. At turn one, an Italian went wide, clipped the grass and spun. A Scot and a Czech binned it through the chicane and I passed a Russian on the exit. I got forced wide buy the car ahead of me at the hairpin but made up two places through the esses as cars went off. Up to 10th.

Lap 2: A Dutchman in a Porsche serves a penalty. The leader at this point is an Irishman in a Toyota who is probably five seconds ahead of 2nd. Even though I'm on mediums the group from 3rd to 8th is very close and I'm happy to stay behind them anyway. Up to 9th.

Lap 4: German goes wide out of the hairpin and collects the Spaniard in 8th when he comes back on. Thankfully spins off to the right rather than the left when I reach him. The Irishman in the lead bins it at the multi-apex right and the lead is taken by a Frenchman in an Audi. Up to 7th.

Lap 5: Russian in an Audi in 6th bins it coming out of the chicane. Frenchman in the Audi pits from soft to soft, comes out in 3rd. Up to 6th. At this point I'm behind the French guy I mentioned in my first race.

Lap 6: Brit in a Porsche and French in an Audi pit from soft to medium. Up to 4th. My fastest lap at this point is a 1:20.2 on lap 2.

Lap 8: Irishman and Russian in Toyotas pit from softs to mediums. Russian had done no fuel saving so took longer. I made a late call to come in here. I had planned a 2-stop but the pace seemed decent and consistent on the mediums, and another lap of running in clear air looked nice. There was a decent gap behind me though, so I pitted and came out in 6th.

Lap 9: Irishman comes out the pits in 2nd. The Russian who started behind me catches up right as he unghosts. The Irishman clips the grass on the inside and slides and smacks the Russian into the wall, who ends up facing the wrong way as I pass him. The other Russian and the Brit in Toyotas have caught up to the Irishman at the braking zone for the chicane. The Irishman moves across as he unghosts and the Russian panics, moving to the right and knocking the Brit off the track, picking up a 7 second penalty. Back to 4th.

Lap 10: By this point the Frenchman in the Audi is miles ahead in 1st. He's coming on to the pit straight as me and the Irishman are coming out of the long right hander. On this lap he makes a mess of it though and has a wiggle coming through the exit. I'm up to 3rd after the Russian served his penalty.

Lap 11: The Audi in the lead pits and refuels, coming out on mediums in 3rd behind myself and the Irishman.

Lap 12: The Brit in the Toyota pits and goes from mediums to softs.

Lap 13: I eventually go for a pass on the Irishman into the hairpin. I went up the inside and hit him on exit. He then drives into me and tries to take me off, I brake to try and avoid it and let him go, with the Frenchman in the Audi behind us passing me too. At the time I thought the guy was a clown who couldn't take being passed - he was, clearly - but after the replay I saw I went very wide on exit. We both took normal lines through the corner but the contact was my fault. We were level coming out even after the hit so he could probably have kept the place through the next right hander, but he tried to force me off. He looked a bit strange the whole race actually. His connection was green but he was moving about erratically as if he was lagging. I don't know if that played a part here or if I just misjudged it.

As I got slowed up by the Audi passing me through that right hander, the Irishman drove off the track at the final left in the esses. The French guy followed. I pitted and took on fuel, coming out in 4th with the Irishman on old mediums, the Frenchman on fresher mediums, and the Russian on worn mediums. The Brit behind me in 5th had softs a lap older than mine.

Lap 15: The Frenchman in the Audi bins it at the long right hander. Up to 3rd.

Lap 16: Going into the chicane, something weird happened. I was to the left of the Russian, I moved slightly to the right under braking and nudged him out the way. The thing is, I didn't remember moving the way I did when I watched it back. There was also no noise or feedback from the collision, which happened at ~130mph. Shortly after at the hairpin the other Brit passes him too. This was also my fastest lap of the race with a 1:19.1.

Lap 17: After nibbling at the Irishman's ruined mediums all laps I force him tight to the inside coming up for the last corner before doing a perfect cutback.

Lap 18: I genuinely could not remember any of this happening even as I was driving, but the other Brit took 2nd at the chicane. Watching it back I was also a bit disappointed that I had seemingly given up on regenerating the hybrid by this point compared to the other podium finishers, but I don't think I'd ever used the Toyota in a race before.

View attachment 895902

I think I had calmed down about half an hour later. What a race.

That was great race for me, if didnt make mistake at lap before last and penalty for hitting a barrier, I got chance to win, but who cares hard clean racing Congratulations for the win

 

[Sean YZF]

Made a total mess of my 1st attempt at manufactures.
Qualifying wasn't too bad, P8, had door number 20 so wasn't expecting that high a spot on the grid.
Started on mediums.
I completely messed up T1, missed my brake marker and hit P7 into the barrier, more gutted for him, then it just turned into a shower of ****.
No awareness from other drivers, bumping, bashing and all out war between some.
Then I messed up my pit stop, wanted softs but hit medium which then caused me to hit do not refuel !
Finished P 15 in the AMG.
Word of warning to everyone.
If there is an orange barrel on the track near the pits avoid at all costs, it stopped me dead
Dropped 900 DR, mainly due to my own mistakes. Live and learn. Going to enter the fray again.

Edit. Disconnected from 2nd attempt just before matchmaking. 3rd time this evening. Had about 4 last night. PD could do with sorting servers out. It's not too bad when you have time to re-enter a race.

 

[timekiller001]

So, my race started off not that well but ended up quite good indeed.
The bad start was in qualifying. Someone had binned it in turn 2/3. He was on the inside of turn 4 and me on the outside, as he quit the qualifying. As the AI took over I got hit quite hard. Only a 1:32.3 and P13. But not all was lost as I knew I had good chances with the Supra and the long straights.

Start was unspectacular. On the long straight in lap 1 I got up to P12, the next lap out of the hairpin up to P11 and on the long straight up to P10.
In lap 4 someone had binned it in turn 1, I went to the outside and got rammed into the wall in turn 2; he got a 2 second penalty and I was luckily able to stay in P10. That became P9 after the penalty was served. There was some chaos happening in the chicane and I was able to overtake two people for P7. Again, someone had a penalty in lap 5 and that got me up to P6 – only until I almost binned it in the chicane and went back to P7.

Coming up to the hairpin in lap 7, I was on the outside and wanted to switch to the inside of the car in front of me, but unfortunately the car behind already went to the inside. I didn't see him and squeezed him, but luckily no penalty. So down to P8 for me.
The next lap, someone went too wide in the hairpin so up to P7 again. Passed another car on the straight for P6 as we were two cars with slipstream and he wasn't.

Then in lap 8, coming to the hairpin I had a better run as the car in front but I went to the outside. There was very, very minimal contact as he slid into me. Wanna guess what happened?

Spoiler

A 2 second penalty for me! But I only had to serve it the next lap.

Coming to the chicane in the same lap, there was a bit of chaos and my race almost got ruined as I braked early to accomodate for the cars around me. Luckily I only went down to P9, which became P8 as the car that bumped me hit the wall out of the last corner.

In lap 9 I went in the pits to switch from mediums to softs and to get some fuel. Once I came out I was in P16, which became P17 as I had to serve the stupid penalty.

In lap 10 got up to P13 as others pitted. Was able to pass a Ferrari to get back to P12. With others pitting in lap 11 that became P10 and finally P7 after the last people pitted in lap 12.

In lap 13 I got up to P6 as another driver had a penalty to serve and that remained unchanged until lap 15 when I got overtaken on the long straight.

Lap 16: Another lap, another guy serving a penalty, so P6 again. Almost binned it in the chicane though and immediately fell back to P7. The next lap he messed it up though and I was able to get back to P6. And that was it. Considering the qualifying a good result. But I was around the guy finishing in P3 before the stupid penalty though.
But as I got 232 points that I don't want to risk this time, this is it for me!

Here is the video. YouTube is taking an awful lot of time though to prepare the HD version, so sorry for that

 

[stpatty]

Oh I forgot to say, first flying lap in qualifying I got snooker ball'd into the pit. I'm quite glad I managed to run away during the race because people just can't judge the difference in speed the slipstream gives them.

 

[Zorz]

Manufacturers Series Round 4
This was such a dirty round. Good grief.

Two attempts again as the first was a bloodbath. In the first, I had the pleasure of being towed by a Honda who ended up being one of the dirtiest drivers I've seen to date (although thankfully my qualifying was not particularly compromised), and the chicane caused so much trouble in the race.

I started P6 on the Mediums, doing a 10/8 (well, pitting on lap 10). The Spaniard that beat me in the Nations yesterday was in this race too in a McLaren, although his race was a disaster and I was partially to blame.

He picked up a penalty through sector 1 on lap 1, and I was behind him. I moved out of his slipstream for the hairpin as I was concerned about causing a pile up due to the car behind me. Unfortunately, he took a tighter line than I was expecting and I collided with him.

If you're reading this, I'm really sorry. I was actively trying to avoid a collision and failed. I wasn't going for a move since I knew the penalty would give me the position anyway.

On lap 2, I screwed up sector 1 and got a barrier collision penalty, and that ended up being my undoing. Serving it dropped me down to P8, and set me up for hell.

At the chicane on lap 3, a Mercedes with a penalty tried to dive through the chicane with the aforementioned Honda. The Mercedes pushed the Honda into the left wall, he bounced across the track into my way, I smashed into the back of him bouncing him off the right wall, and finally the Lexus behind me punted me into the back of the Honda again and I spun out.

Fast forwarding on to lap 11, the Honda has a 1.5s second penalty and gets a further 5s added on for lightly squeezing a Ford at the right-hander before the chicane. Watching the replay back, it seemed excessive. However, what's to come is even worse.

Going past the pits on lap 12, I see the Ford trying to overtake before the penalty line and the Honda explicitly goes out of his way to slam him into the wall.

By lap 17 I had managed to climb all the way back to P6. The chicane wasn't done with me though. A Nissan punted me pretty hard going into it, which led to me slamming the walls and picking up 3 seconds in penalties! 🤬

I thought he was being sportsmanlike after as he backed off and let me through, but I now see from the replay that he had engine damage...

I ultimately finished P9, 105 points. Wasn't settling for that though, I've had enough of the complete 🤬 this Manufacturers season has thrown at me.

On the second attempt I qualified P6 again after getting a tow from a Mercedes which I repaid on the next flying lap. The race was still rough, but I finished P3.

It could have been P2 or even P1 though if not for a penalty that I got given which I really don't think was fair.

A couple of Toyotas were trying to go through the chicane side-by-side on lap 7. Me and another BMW had to go brake early but they collided mid-chicane. The BMW in front of me makes contact with them and loses a lot of speed. I then collided with him because of the sudden speed drop and then the BMW behind me (yes, BMW sandwich) forces his way through, almost spinning me out in the process and awarding me a penalty.

144 points though, very satisfied with that. It replaces the 91 from the misery at Fuji, and it's my new personal best. 👍

Still a bit shocked at how quickly the points are escalating!

 

[ivann]

first slot, 2 stopper, starting 7th

 

[Tidgney]

Streaming some Manufacturers tonight (Double stream weekend, how about that!)! Not sure how the Lambo will survive but you can watch to find out haha! Marbles after to!

 

[Famine]

People have no idea how to drive on street circuits. There's just non-stop nose-in bunts.

That and the complete turd who started blocking while going 30mph slower because he'd just served his penalty. Coincidentally he ended up in the wall at the next corner. Oops.

 

[TTR Racing]

I did my 3rd manu cup race with my monster Hyundai after 2 wins in B dr level this one was terrible. I think track was horrible for my car. Started 3rd and after the start people were overtaking me like I wasn't there. Then I took my mediums until 10th lap and I was planning to change to softs but I forgot what tires I was on and put the mediums again so couldn't make the push on the last stint and managed to get only 4th in the end. It was my first time racing in the track and I can't say I enjoyed a lot. Hoping to see some more f1 tracks so I can be competitive again.

 

[Famine]

People have no idea how to drive on street circuits. There's just non-stop nose-in bunts.

That and the complete turd who started blocking while going 30mph slower because he'd just served his penalty. Coincidentally he ended up in the wall at the next corner. Oops.

First lap of second race, punted in the hairpin, dropped from 8th to 19th.

And finished 2nd, 7s behind the winner, as the only car without a single penalty in the race. That was largely a fluke, as I was pretty much running in 6th for the last three laps, then two people pitted and a Toyota and Porsche tried to run through the final chicane together and took each other out. Relaxed final lap in 2nd, though I had to make sure I took the chicane leisurely enough to not get punted by the Toyota, so it was about 0.1s at the finish.

But still, people can't drive these tracks. I lost 0.4s on my best Q-lap because an NSX mucked up the fast section after the hairpin and then just turned in on the right-hand slip road while I was fully alongside him. Amazingly I didn't get a penalty for killing him (which I did).

 

[Jujar100]

Brutal race! Some people just can’t resist swerving around in front to stop you passing, dive bombing, crushing you against walls...! Filthy guy in an Aston just ploughing through us all at the hairpin each lap knowing he won’t get a penalty.

Still, pretty happy with the Z4 again and happy with the result! 3 of us did manage to help each other for a few laps, putting a decent gap between us and the chasing pack before the friendliness stopped and the other two took each other out!