20:50 Manufacturers
A lot of surprises in this, my final Manufacturers race of the season...
The first of which was seeing
@Tidgney on the matchmaking screen, alongside familiar faces such as
@Lost Sheltie and my Slovenian teammate. Second time I've ended up on one of his livestreams as a result, and a welcome lift after the frustrations of the 18:00.
Was mildly concerned when my connection showed 1 bar in warm-up, but this gradually improved as the session went on. Initial qualifying lap was a 1:56.719, the first set on Brake Balance -3 which I first tried in Free Practice. Second lap brought another surprise; four tenths up in the first sector, purple second sector and an overall time of 1:56.319 despite brushing the wall through the last S bends. Sadly, I could not improve on this on my last couple of tenths, and I ultimately ran out of time when I decided to go out again... a few seconds in front of Tidgney. Pulled to one side, no harm done... the second lap was still good enough for 11th and five tenths off the pole-sitting NSX, driven by a Greek player.
Right behind was another Greek in the McLaren F1, who wasted no time in attacking me as I tried to keep conservative on fuel and look after the tyres on BB -3. Forced him to take the outside of Turn 1, but got hung out to dry as he proceeded to pass and take a Hungarian Porsche with him on the run up to the docks. Almost joined him and the MYTEAM Porsche from the 18:00 in the Armco, then received a couple of whacks from an Aston Martin and a Mercedes while teetering around on cold tyres. No penalties, though, but the lack of grip also left me vulnerable against the Dutch Audi starting from the back. Switched back to BB -2 - as was used in the earlier sessions - and let the Audi go as we followed the MYTEAM and Spanish Porsches through the tunnel. On Lap 2, he goes wide through the dockyard complex and loses momentum after being forced to the inside of Turn 5 by the MYTEAM car. Since the latter was about to serve 5 seconds worth of penalties, I ducked to the outside to pass through him and on the inside of the Audi on the run to Turn 6.
This lead to a good back-and-forth battle between myself and the Audi which lasted for a few laps. Some of the cleanest and closest racing I've had all evening, although the Audi would eventually fade away upon receiving a track limits penalty and an accident at the final S bend. Started closing in on the Spanish Porsche up ahead, but not enough to trigger slipstream, but lost time with a tentative entry into Turn 2. The Ford felt much better this time at the Lap 7-8 mark than in the 18:00; whether it was down to my more careful handling, the battling or starting on BB-3 I'm not exactly sure. Either way, we catch up to what is now a three-car fight for 13th (between the Spanish Porsche, the Hyundai and a French Jag), and repeat the same process as we all serve our stops. Having initially lost touch with the group ahead - which the Porsche eventually broke off from - I gradually erode away the deficit while monitoring the gap between myself and the Greek McLaren.
Two laps from the end, I'm just around 8-9 tenths down, on BB -2 and with an extra 0.8 lap's worth of fuel. Slipstream is finally earned as the Hyundai scrapes the barrier at Turn 1, and the declining fortunes of a French Corvette driver is about to spice things up a bit. Turned up the revs as we passed the start line for the penultimate time, keeping the Hyundai honest as he blocks the outside. The Corvette loses it coming out of Turn 1; the Jaguar clips him, earning a 5-second penalty. More sparks from the Hyundai as he hits the barrier again; here's my chance! Round the outside, up the hill; three places gained before we reach the docks! Hyundai kept his slipstream and saw a chance when I drifted wide at the hairpin; thankfully a good exit kept me ahead through the twisty bits after. Almost embarrassed myself by accidentally downshifting when I was meant to flash my headlights in celebration, but was still four tenths ahead along the railway straight.
First lap problems aside, this was a better lobby in almost every way. Better qualifying, better tyre management, better racing and - most importantly - a marginally better points finish. Not enough to add to my overall score, but I don't care considering that I got a few nice battles out of it. On a side note, I did catch a little bit of Tidgney's stream in the interval, specifically the part where he caught up to me towards the end of qualifying. He mentioned that he might have been distracted by seeing my car in front of him, so I went ahead and apologised in lobby chat after the race; Tidgney quickly replied saying that he should have focused on himself since I was ready to pull over anyway. 👍
Well, what an end to the season. Must admit that I'm starting to appreciate the South Inner Loop a bit more after this...