A bit late with this, school has been a bit hectic.
Round 3 Nations, Time Slot 1
Door #5 and was joined by
@CJam and some other regulars in this lobby. This room was definitely around my level at 202 points (I felt strong in the Gr. 2 here, normally I would think this kind of room would be too high). I had provisional pole and ended up qualifying 4th, only 0.04s off of 1st, and the entire field was around 1 second of each other.
I completely ruined my race though. Coming into T1, I thought I was braking on-time, but it turns out I braked too late, allowing P5 to pull alongside me. In my attempt to defend into T3, I braked too late again, causing me to go into the run-off area. With everyone behind, I ended up re-joining 10th. I was faster than the people ahead, but there was a group of 4 and I was struggling to figure out how to pass.
Things then got worse because coming out of Rauch around Lap 4, I sbinalla-ed. I have absolutely no idea why - viewing the replay, I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. So I fell down into 18th. I managed to claw my way back into 12th but was kicking myself because a podium definitely was possible.
Round 3 Nations, Time Slot 2
Door #15 and was joined by
@csmirnoff ,
@GTWolverine , and a couple of other regulars in this lobby. This race was a higher split, or at least the average DR of this lobby was much higher than the previous one. So, I wasn't thinking I would get phenomenal results. I ended up qualifying around 0.1s faster than Time Slot 1, but this was only good enough for 11th in this lobby. So, I threw on Racing Hards for a one-stop.
The race immediately started off poorly. My start position was right on the apex of the final turn, and despite going gentle on the throttle, I still got a bit of wheelspin. Luckily, I didn't slam into the wall like a person ahead did, but I was overtaken into T1, and then immediately gained the position back as the person ahead got wheelspin and spun. I thought I braked in time, but I still overshot T3 and lost a position. My excuse is cold tires and full fuel. But, I keep it clean for the rest of the lap. I wanted to work with@GTWolverine ahead of me, but they got a penalty for cutting the curbs a bit too much. Coming into T3 on Lap 2, I take back 10th as
@GTWolverine serves their penalty, and despite being under attack at T3, the person who went up my inside got a poor exit. So I settle into 10th.
I take 9th as the person ahead serves a penalty on Lap 3, but they take it back the next lap at T3, and a little wheelspin from me coming out of T4 meant I lost another spot. I then settle into 11th as the group ahead gets very feisty with each other, so it was just a matter of keeping with the pack and staying calm. After all, I'm on the Hard tires and some of the people in front aren't.
I gain one position on the not-straight after T1 as someone gets murdered on Lap 6, and I take another as someone spins out coming out of T3. I stay with the pack still and they are fighting hardcore. I gain a place coming out of T1 as someone gets pushed wide, and I gain another at T3 as someone brakes too late. Looking back reveals a field that's three-wide with penalties flashing everywhere. I was now in clean air in P6 on Lap 7. Not bad.
I tailed an RC-F until the beginning of Lap 9 when they messed up the final corner, and due to pitstops, I found myself in 4th. I should've pitted at the end of Lap 9, but I was going to a 10-lap stint on the Hards. This bit me as my nearly 2-second gap to
@GTWolverine turned into us racing neck-and-neck into T3 on Lap 11, with them gaining the place. I then get shoved wide into T4 by someone that I then remain stuck behind for almost the entirety of the rest of the race. Due to the downforce and dirty air of Gr. 2 cars, I found overtaking especially difficult around here. Due to incidents, when I get past them on Lap 16, I'm up to 6th place. They decide to shove me wide again, but in a rare instance of the penalty system working, they get a 2s penalty. I almost get overtaken into T4, but I stay along-side and defend the position into T5.
Thus, I finished P6 for 174 points. I could've had P4 if I wasn't held up, but this was still a solid result that I was satisfied with since I was punching above my weight with the people in this lobby.
Manufacturers Round 3
Ended up skipping these due to school.
Looking forward to this week's races though! i'm still debating the 2 or 3 stop for Nations tomorrow. At least it's in the Viper, my Manufacturer's car.
Pole was siting at 52.4xx and I was in p17 with a 52.8xx.
!
I know N300/500 are the most common, and we've had N100/200/800 recently as well.
