Manufacturers Round 16, 1st Time Slot
Qualifying went much better than expected. I tried getting into the slipstream train, but the Atenza ahead of me accidentally punted the TT ahead of them into the braking zone of the final chicane, and I punted the Atenza. So, I ran that lap without a draft and a little distracted and put myself up to 8th. I messed up Eau Rouge/Radillon on my 2nd flying lap so I restarted for one last chance. I managed to get 4th without the draft, so I was feeling good.
Being in 4th meant I was with the first group, thanks to how Spa's rolling starts worked. However, 1st and 2nd kept fighting each other, culminating in a crash that wiped out the leading TT on Lap 3, slowing me and 3rd down which let the group behind begin to catch us. I was defending hard from a Cayman behind for the next 2 laps before he decided to go for dive bomb of the century into the final chicane, hitting the Corvette in front of me and giving me a 2 second penalty for turning into me. So, I went from 3rd to 9th and got stuck behind a Jaguar and SLS fighting constantly. I crossed the line in 6th though when, on the final chicane, things came to a head and the Jaguar went for a very aggressive move and punted the SLS while also almost spinning out.
I gained 170 points in the end. Although I knew I could've finished higher, I felt that my qualifying and the race I had was pretty much perfect, and since I didn't have any other "backup" scores to use when 5 rounds get counted, I decided to settle for this result and aim for a better result in the upcoming rounds. Gr. 3 Fuji be looking tasty since I have plenty of experience there from Daily Races..... And Alsace in Gr. 4 cars should suit the Cayman well.
Nations Round 16, 2nd Time Slot
I deliberately skipped the 1st Nations time slot because I had a bad feeling about what it would do to my DR, and since my DR is the highest its ever been I wanted to use that to match into a higher-split Manufacturers lobby for point. So much for that plan... Anyways, apparently no one was racing this round of the Nations cup because there was a 30,000 DR range from Door #1 to Door #20 (me) in this race. 1st place was 267 points, which is over 30 points higher than the highest lobby I've ever been in. So, I knew immediately I wasn't going to get many points or stand much a chance.
Qualifying was uneventful, I avoided everyone and despite going as fast as I could, and given the high-DR nature of the room, it was only enough for 19th. Since I was starting from the back I decided I'd be aggressive and go for the two-stop strategy, since I'll need all the pace I could to keep up. I also decided to fuel save as well because I knew that I was only going to keep up through strategy rather than raw pace.
At race start, some incident occurred that wiped out one of the front runners, giving me 18th. Almost everyone in front was on the same strategy as me, so after the first pit stop I found myself where I was before the stop. I get a pass done on Lap 2 into Turn 7 and build a gap, and the front runner that was recovering passes me into Turn 1 on Lap 3, not that I planned on defending. I wanted to use them as someone I could draft to maintain pace and save fuel. I gain another spot on Lap 3 into the final chicane when someone runs wide and gets reset, and nothing much happens until I put at the end of Lap 8 and catch up to a battle on Lap 10.
A person behind me who was much faster manages a really good move as both the person in front and I go deep into the chicane and makes it three-wide on the front straight. They get by the person ahead, and I and 15th place duel for the next two laps in some really good close racing. I'm eventually able to get the move done into Turn 7 on Lap 12, but I get passed at the T3-T4 complex on Lap 13. However, on the final lap, the person ahead loses control coming out of Turn 6, and I come home in 15th place for a measly 111 points. I debated going again or not since the focus needed for that race actually drained me a bit, so I took a break.
Nations Round 16, 3rd Time Slot
The lobby was even more dispersed now. Although there were more A rated drivers, the DR range from Door #1 to Door #20 was now over 35,000, and the points value for the win was down to 257 points. So I knew I was going to be essentially wasting me time again.
Qualifying was uneventful again, but I managed to qualify 16th this time. I stuck to the same 1M/7S/7S strategy as last race. The person starting behind me was starting on softs, so I didn't defend hard, but they didn't make a pass until the final chicane. Almost everyone in front of me dived for the pits and I came out in 19th. On my exit I accidentally tapped the back of a person who didn't pit, getting an SR down but no penalty (thankfully). I spent the lap playing catch-up and made a pass coming out of the final corner for 18th, and then out of T4 gained another place as someone spun. I then played catch-up again for the next two laps. Then for following two laps I was unable to pass the person in front of me. I eventually gained the spot when they backed out of the final chicane to pit. The next two laps were lonely and I pit at the end of Lap 8, coming out with a 1.7s gap to the person behind, who was the person who spun out from the front of the race. They were gaining on me, with some mistakes from me costing me a few tenths and some mistakes from them costing them a few tenths. They were in striking range in the final chicane of the final lap, but luckily for me they ran out of fuel, letting me finish a comfortable 15th (again). This time I only got 107 points. Either way it won't matter since it's towards the lower end of my recorded scores.
