- 1,443
- The Netherlands
- Spongeinside
A 'endurance' race over 100km. Should be 48,8 or something laps, but rounded it up to 50.
Tiny spoiler; not as boring as you might think!
Cars were all standard, no tuning and on comfort normal tires. The only slight advantage I may have had was from some downforce of the rear wing. I thought of removing it for this race but due to a big purchase before the race I didn't had enough credits to put it back on afterwards.
Start / lap 1
Started on 4th as is standard in A-spec cup racing.
Pulled off the start line to enter turn 1 in 2nd place, had a lot of over steer exiting turn 1, got hit by 4th place and he overtook me.
Entering turn 4, the first hairpin I managed to out brake 3rd place and take over 3rd place through the inside.
Lap 2
Bumper to bumper with 2nd place.
Attacked in turn 4, got on the inside and overtook him in turn 5.
The hunt for 1st place began!
Lap 3 to 11
Slowly closed the gap, only tenths of a second at a time.
Had a lot of over steer due to not being smooth enough on the throttle.
Gap to 1st was at ~2,5 seconds.
Somehow had trouble almost every lap in turn 8, missing the apex by several meters.
Gap back to 3rd was increasing slowly and steadied out at ~4 seconds.
Average lap times were 1:22-ish.
Struggled with turn 9 a lot almost every lap, grip was low with the cn tires.
Tire temperatures were pretty high which effected the grip a lot too.
Slowly the gap to 1st was getting smaller, but still only tenths of a second.
Made a few mistakes, increasing the gap to ~2,5 seconds again.
Lap 12
Big loss of rear grip in turn 4 again, 1st place was starting to get away.
Lap 13
Started to get my act together and smoothened out my driving a bit and started to get closer by only a few tenths.
Lap 14
Close the gap to ~2 seconds.
Lap 15
Got really close to 1st, almost on his bumper.
Slipstreamed him on the long straight and had a little look on the inside.
Made a small mistake, lost some time.
Lap 16
Braking in to turn 8 I again got really close on his bumper.
Again slipstreamed him on the straight, got next to him on turn 9 but didn't manage to pass him.
Lap 17
Again got really close to 1st.
Closed the gap in turn 8 and as previous laps, slipstreamed him down the straight.
Got next to him braking in to turn 9 and was on the inside, we touched slightly, but it had minimal effect on us both.
Managed to exit turn 9 a tiny bit faster and took 1st place!
Lap 18
2nd place was still very close behind me, he looked on the inside in turn 1, but didn't overtake, he was a bit too far away.
Gap slowly increased to a few tenths.
Lap 19
Gap still getting bigger, but 2nd was still very close, never got out of my rear view mirror.
Lap 20
Gap increased to 2,5 seconds.
Lap 21 to 24
Still had some trouble exiting corners smoothly, gap got smaller ~1,6 seconds.
Lap 25
Gap now was only 0,5 seconds, he was closing in on me at an alarming rate.
Gap from 2nd to the rest was really small too, I couldn't afford to make any mistakes.
Lap 26
Disaster struck! Went in turn 9 too fast, wrong gear and slid out in to the grass and came to a complete stop in the gravel pit.
Managed to get out but fell back to 7th place.
Lap 27 to 29
Had to start all over again, I kinda lost hope on being able to win.
Gap to 1st was over 12 seconds.
Lap 30 to 34
8th place was close on my bumper, almost pushing my in to a mistake several times.
Gap to 6th ~5,5 seconds.
Lap 35
Gap to 6th closed to only 2 seconds.
Lap 36
Almost on the bumper of 6th place.
Used my standard tactic and slipstreamed him down the straight and overtook him during braking in to turn 9. 6th place was mine!
Lap 37
Getting close to 5th place as he wasn't far away and 4th was really close by as well.
Overtook 5th in turn 8 and was close enough to 4th to get in his slipstream and overtake braking in to turn 9.
Climbed 2 places in 1 lap!
Lap 38 to 41
Gap to 3rd ~5 seconds and I was closing in!
Lap 42
Gap to 3rd only ~1 second.
Closed the gap in turn 4, slipstreaming close on his bumper to turn 5.
Got on the outside of him and had the inside on turn 6 and overtook him exiting turn 6.
Gap to 2nd was ~2 seconds and closed it during braking in to turn 9.
Slight 'love tab' on his bumper and managed to overtake.
Again 2 places in 1 lap!
Lap 43
Gap to 1st ~4,7 seconds.
Lap 44
Gap gets smaller with again only a few tenths. Starting to believe in getting the victory!
Gap back to 3rd ~3 seconds, can't afford any mistakes.
Lap 45
Gap to 1st ~2,2 seconds. But due to me pushing myself hard, I made several tiny mistakes and again struggled with corner exits, again a lot of over steer....
Lap 46
Gap to 1st still ~2,2 seconds.
It's getting tight, only 4 more laps to go!
Lap 47
Starting to notice tiny mistakes by the 1st place car, the gap is getting smaller!
In to turn 4 I'm almost on his bumper, had to brake hard to avoid hitting him and lose a lot of time.
Only 3 laps to go and I'm really sweating now!
Lap 48
Gap to 1st ~2,1 seconds, lost more time than I thought I had.
Managed to gain a few tenths during the lap.
Only 2 more laps to go!
Lap 49
Gap down to only ~0,7 seconds, I can almost smell victory!
Exiting turn 1 I'm on his bumper.
Trough turn 2 and 3 I'm next to him but in turn 4 I'm on the outside.
We exit turn 4 side by side, me still being on his right giving me the advantage for the next turn as it goes right!
Exiting turn 5 I'm half past him and go all the way in turn 6 and 7.
Going trough turn 8 I'm back in the lead since lap 17!
Lap 50, final lap!
Gap to 2nd ~0,5 seconds.
Got to focus and concentrate not to make mistakes, the race isn't over till the flag drops and with such a tiny gap anything was still possible, I could still mess up!
Halfway around the track the gap increased a lot, I guess he made some mistakes...?
Finish
Crossed the line after 50 laps and 100+km with a 2,3 second lead on 2nd place!
Victory was mine!
Afterthoughts
This was a pretty exciting race for me, with highs and lows. The AI didn't really provide much resistance when overtaking, but they were pretty good on pace, so getting to them was a challenge and they stuck with me pretty good once overtaken. The tire wear and fuel consumption was very low, wish it would have been higher or having a mandatory pitstop to make things more interesting (I hope GT6 will include this option). I really enjoy racing this track, the first few corners remind me of Zandvoort
It's a shame you don't get credits after a A-Spec cup race..... oh well, had a lot of fun, so it was worth it anyway.
Hope you enjoyed reading this race report and hopefully changed some minds about how racing the AI can be fun as well!
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(most, last 6 are not)
