- 765
- United Kingdom
I had a lot of fun at Yamagiwa in the Nations tonight. I managed to qualify in 2nd and chose to run the Medium front and Hard rear option for the start of the race. This made the car a bit twitchy at the start and I struggled a bit for the 1st few laps, but managed to settle down. Trouble was I lost the slipstream of 1st and the Beetle is kind of thirsty, so I was a bit worried. Leader pitted on lap 6, and then I pitted lap 7 for my 1 stop. Thankfully 3rd pitted on lap 6 as well, so I was able to let him by and save fuel for a few laps. We started to catch the leader and then he pitted, and came out just behind us, so it was a relatively straight battle to the end. The tyre life mattered, and he managed to get past both of us with a couple of laps to spare, and I managed to get into 2nd when a mistake was made. Great fight and a lot of fun.
In Manufacturers I knew the Lamborghini would be good and managed to qualify in 4th. My plan was just to stay out of trouble and I managed to do it pretty well (Medium fronts and Soft rears), but I was using too much fuel to try and stay in the slipstream of the guys ahead. It was pretty much line astern and I followed them into the pits on lap 8 to change to softs, and took a risk - I didn't add any fuel. I was hoping to slot back into their slipstream and then save fuel, but unfortunately came out in 1st and so began the slow, desperate attempt to save fuel. I did ok until the last lap when I dropped to 4th. A guy managed to get up the inside at the 1st lesmo as I was saving so much fuel, and as I was on the outside going into the 2nd lesmo I braked a couple of meters early. The guy behind me tapped me, then got hit by the guy behind him and the pinball physics was enough to put me off. Just one of those things, so ended up back in 9th. Probably could have done it again and gotten more points, but 1 shot is my choice unless I have a really miserable race.
In Manufacturers I knew the Lamborghini would be good and managed to qualify in 4th. My plan was just to stay out of trouble and I managed to do it pretty well (Medium fronts and Soft rears), but I was using too much fuel to try and stay in the slipstream of the guys ahead. It was pretty much line astern and I followed them into the pits on lap 8 to change to softs, and took a risk - I didn't add any fuel. I was hoping to slot back into their slipstream and then save fuel, but unfortunately came out in 1st and so began the slow, desperate attempt to save fuel. I did ok until the last lap when I dropped to 4th. A guy managed to get up the inside at the 1st lesmo as I was saving so much fuel, and as I was on the outside going into the 2nd lesmo I braked a couple of meters early. The guy behind me tapped me, then got hit by the guy behind him and the pinball physics was enough to put me off. Just one of those things, so ended up back in 9th. Probably could have done it again and gotten more points, but 1 shot is my choice unless I have a really miserable race.