That went better than expected...
GT2 - North America - 11AM EST - Audi RS 5 Turbo DTM '19 - 118 point available - Door #3 - Q5 (1:28.664)
Landed in the same lobby as
@afc5150. Good to see you there, friend!
I couldn't have asked for a better qualifying time. I pretty much matched my Free Practice best. Landed me in Q5, much better than expected.
I started on RMs, as did everybody ahead of me. My plan was 10RM-10RS.
The first lap was more civilized than I expected (at least from where I was --
@afc5150 would disagree, I think). A couple drivers ahead spun up their tires, which let me get past them. The driver behind me was pretty aggressively poking his nose in on me wherever he could, so I let him by as we entered the complex of corners. That left me in P4 at the end of the lap.
And that's pretty much where I stayed for most of the race. The polesitter flew off into the distance. I was able to keep up with the P2 and P3 cars for a while, but I lost them when I had bad run through the final sector one lap. That let me concentrate on driving my laps.
As we got closer to the 10-lap mark, the telemetry app that I use showed that the mediums were getting over 90 degrees, which is hotter than I expected. I decided to stay out one extra lap, to lap 11, just to be safe. I didn't want to burn out the softs, if they were going to wear more than in my practice races.
The P2 and P3 cars stayed out one more lap. The undercut got me back in striking of the P3 car. I tucked in behind, waiting for my chance to make a move.
It came at the start of lap 15, when they went wide out of turn 1 into the green stuff. I slipped by (pictured above) and before I knew it, had more than a second gap on them as they dealt with their dirty tires. Up to P3.
The P2 car was out of reach, so it was just a matter of defending my position for the rest of the race. The Audi was great for this. With the DRS, I was pulling away from the NSX on all the straights. They would gain in the final sector, but I'd leave them in the dust again on the rest of the track.
So I was able to hold P3 to the finish for 108 points and 4.3% increase to my DR B progress, bringing it to 78.3%.
What a great way to finish of the season! Much better than I expected.