Well this is going to be a long one.....
Nations Cup Round 18 - Willow Springs Streets of Willow
Already knew I wasn't going to do this...
Manufacturers Series Round 18 - Fuji International Speedway
I enter with 13 on the door and qualify 15th. The start of the race is glitched as 10-20 all stop as auto drive starts. 10th disappears (disconnected?) and once we get going again, the race actually starts and we are already separated from 1-9. Believe it or not, there really was not much happening in this race. I was in the pack of 10-13 and we all kept swapping places cleanly. The best part about this race is we did it from laps 3-16. That was quite enjoyable but unfortunately, on the last turn on the last lap, I skid a little and lose 11th and end up 13th.
Nations Cup Round 19 - WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
I was not sure if I would run this race. I knew I was looking forward to Gr.1 but every practice section I had was awful. I was way off pace and was having trouble keeping it on track. I decided to do it anyway. I could not pass up the chance of running the Gr.1 cars.
I am glad I did....I take my trusty Toyota TS050 to the track with 15 on the door. I qualify 7th after somehow getting into a groove here. I start on softs I am 5th by the corkscrew on lap 1. 4th goes off on the first right hander on lap 2 and by the corkscrew, I am in 3rd. P1 and P2 are slowing me down as they both have poor connections and are teleporting everywhere. Its hard to go fast when you don't know where they actually are. So I just try to keep my distance.
I eventually grab P2 on lap 5 right past the penalty zone. I try to increase my pace as P1 has built a little lead. I take P1 on the end of lap 7 when the leader grabs some dirt on the final turn. For the whole lap it seemed like he was not taking into account worn tires and kept using his same brake points and it bit him there.
I pull into the pits on the end of lap 9 still P1. I pull out in P5 on mediums. I am back to P3 by lap 12. I take P2 as P2 pits on lap 13. I m reeling in P1 and he pits on 14. I figure I have this in the bag. I am driving very consistently and just wonder how long I can make the mediums last. I had originally planned a 3 stopper but it was going so well that I abandoned that idea. I lead from laps 15-22. I pit to take on hards and come back out P2. I hold that spot until the end. I was very pleased as I was unsure how I would do going into this. P1 1 stopped and won by 5.5 seconds. It is also my best total of the season!
Manufacture Series Round 19 - Red Bull Ring Short Track
You know its a sign when you feel bad with 3 on the door. I didn't practice much for this race so I was not sure what I was in for. I qualify 19th but the whole field was within 1.5 secs from 1-20. There was not a lot of excitement but I did have some great close racing with a fellow SLS and we went back and forth the whole race. We raced clean and close and it was a pleasure to race him. We would trade taking the inside or outside of turn but stay side by side with minimal contact. It was great.
The race...not so much. That was my only excitement here but I did manage to finish 14th so it wasn't all bad.
See you out on the track!