That was quite a race...
First of all, I messed up in the qualifying, both times in the first corner: I spun off in the first, and braked too early in the second, so I ended up starting 5th. Luckily for me two of the guys ahead of me (I can't remember their names off the top of my head) messed up so I got up to 3rd, behind Wes and Bart.
I had a pretty good battle with Bart for second place, while Wes pulled away, but then it became three-way as Wes messed up. I thought it would be a trivial matter for Wes to pass us both and start building a lead again, but then Wes messed up big time when he was too aggressive trying to take me at the bus stop.
By this stage, Bart had built up a lead big enough to deny me the ability to draft him. Another small mistake by me built the gap to five seconds.
When I pitted,
I didn't realise that I was allowed to immediately rejoin the track and I instead took the alternate road, (
EDIT: Immediately rejoining is not allowed. I later discovered that I lost time by entering the pits too fast and being penalized by the game) which must have cost me another five seconds.
For the rest of the race, Bart and I were pretty well matched on pace, so the gap stayed at about 10-11 seconds, until Bart (presumably) made a small mistake which allowed me to gain a couple of seconds. Unless either of us completely messed up, it looked like it was going to be Bart first, me second, and Wes third.
But then, Bart and I both ran out of fuel coming out of the bus stop. Bart had run out before me allowing me to pass, but Wes screamed by to take the win, with me second and Bart third.
I'm kicking myself for missing out on a potential win, but probably not as much as Bart who surely would have won otherwise. Congratulations to Wes for the win, albeit in unexpected circumstances. 👍
I can explain my pit blunder: I had originally calculated the amount of fuel that I would need based on a 36 lap race (I made it 59 extra litres). When it turned out to be only 32 laps, my calculation was thrown out and I just filled up with the amount suggested by the game + 1 litre, which just wasn't enough. 🤬 you, Polyphony Digital.
Well, I shall not be making the same mistake for the NA race. I have now calculated how much extra fuel I will need for 32 laps, to ensure that I have enough fuel for the whole race.
I'll see you all there