It was a relief to be on the grid for the final round, having missed out on a place at Spa due to server outages in my region, which lasted for nearly 5 hours and left Sport Mode unavailable. Making the most of the game being playable, I put some hours in practicing, and testing out my new Logitech G29 wheel to find the best setup to work with a Gr.4 car. I managed to qualify in 9th, which was partly disappointing, but then I’ve not had much luck with FR cars around Laguna Seca, the circuit being more suited to MR and RR cars, so any result was a good result.
I’d planned on running hard tires as I’d found the mediums to only be good for about 5 laps in practice, and then pit around Lap 12 for the required tire change. However I forgot to switch the tires back after qualifying, so the plan went out the proverbial window. The race start was not ideal either, following a Cayman and a Megane off the line and nearly binning it at the Andretti Hairpin. But from there things only improved, I passed the Renault at T5 and settled into a moderate pace, trying to preserve the tires as much as possible. On lap 3 a TRD GT-86 was forced to serve a penalty for an earlier incident; I passed in the penalty zone however they stole their position back, only to then run wide at T6 and spin on the Rahal Straight. Ahead, a Motul Nissan GT-R pitted early, which left me in 6th, then up to 5th as a Cayman span out in the Corkscrew on the next lap.
I managed to build a comfortable lead over the Penrite BMW M4 and the Megane from earlier, and briefly held 3rd as two cars ahead pitted. I managed to hold 4th until the end of lap 11, pitting with the Megane right on my tail. I switched to hards and ducked out, with no need for additional fuel, and emerged from the pits in 5th. I held off the Megane for several laps, setting my FL of 1:31:937, which was faster than my personal best on mediums during practice. I was about to better that time when the Megane tried to make a move, cutting in as I moved wide to make the line for the final turn. They clipped my rear quarter panel and came off, only to then fly back onto the track and ram me off the line and into the sand. The Megane received a 2-second penalty, which made no difference to their race; I lost two places.
I managed to outgun the Leopard Natural Alfa 4C on the downhill to the hairpin on lap 16, but was then left defending at every turn as they drove like mad to gain their place back. On the final lap I thought I had it in the bag, but took a poor line out of the Corkscrew, with the Alfa immediately behind. We ended up tandem drifting down the hill, with the Alfa slipping by at the pit entrance, leaving me in 8th. Part of me was left disappointed at the result, having been so close to a podium place, but I was exhilarated at having been part of such a spectacular finish to the season.
Looking at the settings I'm a bit meh..about it, I think they should make it simpler to participate, not everyone can dedicate hrs to practice various strategies, shorter qually is a step in the right direction though.
