If anyone remembers my last write-up on a race at Laguna Seca, you'd probably know that it was a sloppy end to my first Manufacturers Exhibition season run with Citroen. Since then, I've been trying to get clean sessions
without dropping all four wheels into the sand, but most of these attempts resulted in failure. Though I knew that the Mustang wouldn't be the most competitive car around this circuit, I still decided to enter the 16:40 alongside
@SmokeyMR2 for the sole purpose of completing a race without going off once. It felt stable and forgiving enough in practice lobbies, so what was there to lose?
16:40 Manufacturers
For the second race in a row, I managed to destroy my own qualifying run on my first flier. No contact, no hold-ups, no trips to the sand... just carried a little too much speed through the Corkscrew and went a little over the green stuff on exit. Twice pulled over to the side to let the rest of the pack through and accepted a start from 18th. Pole went to a French Porsche with a 1:25.858 (for reference, my best practice quali lap was a 1:27.050).
Not to worry, though... just stuck on Hards and got rid of them on the first lap. This was while catching up to the tails of a Porsche and McLaren, though the Mustang's thirst for fuel at full chat probably set me back as the CSX McLaren emerged in front on pitlane exit. The orange McLaren is struggling, though (replay HUDs suggested he was short-shifting at low-revs), and a kerb-hop from him allows me to glide past on the run to Turn 5. Rather uneventful stint on Mediums from that point onwards, but kept fairly close to the CSX car until he peeled into pit road on Lap 6. Set a string of consistent high-1:28s and briefly held 12th until the lime green Ferrari reeled in and passed me at Andretti Hairpin. Had the inside for Turn 3 but backed out as I was coming to the end of my stint anyway. Pitted for Softs and fuel (64% for some extra power down the straights), re-joining the race dead last.
Though a bit disappointed about how much ground I had lost (whether it was down to my refuelling or the Mustang's poorer economy in general I'm not sure), I did salvage a purple first sector and enough pace to draw in the orange McLaren until he went into the sandpit at Andretti. The green Ferrari pits from Softs to Hards with two laps to go. Kept him honest until he put two wheels onto the sand and drifted wide early into the final lap, giving me another chance to slip up the inside at Turn 5. From there, it was full throttle to the flag.
18th place and 78 points might seem crushingly disappointing on the surface, but at the end of the day I can consider this run a success. Only had a couple of instances where I went over the kerbs/white lines during the race itself, and even then I still kept two wheels on the tarmac without losing too much momentum. Stayed largely out of trouble while making some clean passes out of other players' problems, though given the sort of lap times I was doing in practice I'm not sure how much of a difference a penalty-free qualifying would have changed things. Either way, there should hopefully be more chances later for the Mustang to have its day...
I pushed so hard, but my best finish was 11th. Oh well...
