I knew at some point that my strong run in Nations Gr.1 events would come to an end, but I wanted to give Laguna Seca at least one shot as I found it rather fun to drive around in the TS050.
15:00 Nations
Grouped with
@watto79,
@T_revisio and 'wifi password' in a lobby worth 282 points. Whole grid consisted of 18 TS050s and 2 '16 R18s.
Main objective in qualifying was to set a hot lap without bottling it, which I achieved first time out with a 1:09.748. Second lap: 7 tenths up, but binned after clipping the sausage kerb at Rainey Curve. Third lap: overshot the Corkscrew. Fourth lap: lost two seconds in the second sector. The Audi in front binned it out of Turn 3 and rejoined in the middle of the track; this forced me to take a tight line and hop over the sausage at Turn 4, costing any chance of building up the 1.6 tenths I had built up at that point. Another frustrating start down in 17th; pole was a 1:08.055 which, judging by test lobby pace, was out of the question for me anyway.
Did what I'd normally do if I start at the back; get rid of Hards early. Already there are problems at the Andretti Hairpin, as a Portuguese Toyota spins after taking a trip to the sandpit. Got lightly nudged by a French TS050 under braking for the Corkscrew, but that would be the least of my worries as I took on Mediums. Let the Frenchman go as he was on Softs, and passed the Portuguese driver again as he bounced over the Corkscrew gravel. The second stint was a lonely and error-prone one. Lost a place after misjudging the Corkscrew again, made contact with an Italian Audi as I tried to line up a pass on the inside of Turn 5. The Audi clearly had issues with maintaining boost - as it usually does - and eventually had to concede 18th after picking up a 0.5 second penalty.
Passed a German runner who seemed to have beached it at Turn 11, pressured a Dutch KFC car and almost came together with him down the straight. Almost lost it over the kerbs coming out of Turn 6, but snatched 13th from the KFC car when I finally came into pit road again on Lap 12. Softs, 70% fuel and high-revs for the final half. The KFC Toyota kept making mistakes, so up to 15th we went. Set a 1:09.918 just as Watto and a Russian entrant emerge out of the pits on Mediums. Got a run on Watto up Rahal with six laps to go, and thought that I would have enough momentum to dive up the inside of the Corkscrew. However, Watto had already covered the line going in, so I was forced to back out and crawl across the kerb... while he lost it on the exit. Yes, I was afraid that that move had probably spooked you into going wide, but I'm glad there was no contact between us.
So, if you couldn't probably tell, this was turning out to be yet another difficult Nations run. To add injury over injury, after pitting for new Softs on Lap 20 I proceed to launch over the Turn 6 sausage and overshoot the Corkscrew
- again! 
As I recovered, I noticed that the leading Frenchman was already getting close to lapping us within the closing stages. So, still feeling mad with how things had gone at my end, I decided it wasn't worth worth the trouble holding him up and pulled over on the start-finish straight. Only thing is, he went on to pit the very next lap!
Despite the setback - and the red mist - I did enough to catch back up to Watto and the Dutch KFC car coming into the final lap. Exiting turn 1, the timer pops up as a sign the leader has already crossed the line. "TIME REMAINING: 00:58." If we weren't going to make the cut-off, now's the chance to pass the KFC car once more. Got a great run on him coming out of Turn 5, but backed out as I couldn't risk another collision. "TIME REMAINING: 00:30." The KFC car gets sketchy coming out of the Corkscrew; I take the inside of Rainey, but am forced to ride two wheels over the sausage as he closes in. Twelve, eleven, ten. Watto clips the Turn 11 sausage and slides. Six seconds, five. Are we going to make it? By sheer luck - and thanks to the KFC car's tentative exit - I get on the gas and scream past through the middle! 14th is mine - "FINISH!" I crossed the line with just eight-tenths to spare, with the KFC car and Watto not too far behind.
Realistically, what else could I have expected? Like Watto, I felt like I wasn't anywhere near the pace of the front-runners, but the TS050 ran as well as ever and was more than able to get away with a couple of flat-out stints. The 'Moses effect' was something I didn't expect coming out of the final corner, and was probably the best part of the race by a long shot. But overall, despite being my best-ever FIA finish at Laguna Seca, the 15:00 was just as problematic and frustrating as almost every other Nations meeting I've had this year. Thought about joining the 19:00 at the last second, but got timed out while in the process of entering. Ready to call it a day as I'm not up for competing in the later slots.
forget about it.... 2nd slot Q6 again, started on Med for 12 laps, then softs and fuel for 11 laps and one on hards... It was good strategy in this race, gained 3 positions in the pits... Happy man I am
got rid of the hard tyres lap 1 and to my surprise was a few seconds out front come the start of the last lap when the leaders pitted.
