Race report.
Qualified in 6th.. Was discussing 3 vs 2 stop strategy with Remy just prior race.. I decided to await how the race turned out, but initially went for a 2 stopper since I had a good tune for my tires.
Formation Lap and everything was flewless, and the start as well. Thanks to the guys in the front who kept a steady pace. 👍
Remy, who started behind me, in 7th got a gap on my inside going in to T1, and since he's my team mate and all, I just let him pass.. Sadly, he and biffy followed eachother out in the sand in the middle of dunlop.. I watched the replay from Remy's bumper view.. And boy, the pace was intence.. The off was not major.. But it was like zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom.. Dead last in a matter of seconds.. All semed to stay away from any incidents because of it as well.. 👍
But this made me climb in to 5th, and the "Big 3" was leading the pack with CSL behind who kept up really well.
I don't remember if it was that early, but SuperSic had an off in 130r, and I passed him too.. So I was now running in 4th.
I had a good pace, and also had an eye out for Wardez who was behind me in 5th. He also got pass some of the mayham clean it seemed.. Then I think GTP_timeattack and GTP_Aderrrm must've collided or something.. Also in 130r.. So with both of them pitting around lap 5-6, I was now 2nd, behind CSLACR and ahead of Wardez. By this time the 3 of us ran similar times, and the gap was just enough for all of us to drive in fresh air. So I think we had a decent pace.. Perhaps not super quick, but very concistant.
When it was time for my first stop I was pretty close to CSL, and we pitted at the same time.. I got held up because I was too close to him.. So when his car slowed down to enter it's box, my car did as well.. No biggie though.. cause I still felt I had a good shot at a podium now when the 3 aliens had 1 off each. But I knew I had to race flawless from here on.
So when exiting the pits, GTP_timeattack, who had pitted a few laps earlier due to his off came up between me and CSL.. So I lost some ground to him.. But then CSL cought up to GV, and with GTP_timeattack behind him I thought that he had to loose some time here for sure.. But GV had a bad exit out of Degner 2 and CSL managed to slip by clean and fast. By this time GTP_timeattack had worn out his tires a bit more than me, so I cought up to him at lap 14. And by the end of lap 15, towards 130r (You guys see wher I'm going with this?
), I got a good run in his slip. But I backed off before 130r to allow some air on my front. It was a well planned move, and I cleared 130r in a good way.. Sadly, GTP_timeattack spins on the slippery rumbles to the right (anyone know of them?
) and sways infront of me and BAM! "That's my shot a podium" was my first thought..
My stering wheel was like 120 degrees off angle and I decided to pit immediately. This left me with no option but to go for a super long last stint.. 17 laps.. In an NSX..
I ran concistant, and stayed below the 2 minute mark for a good amount of laps.. I also knew that I had to save my tires towards the end of the race. And during this long stint, I passed Wardez, Aderrrm and tony who stopped at around lap 20 (5 laps afte me), so I did not bother that they started catching up to me when they were done with their stops. I pretty much knew I had no chance of keeping them behind me. My only stream of light was that Aderrrm cought up to GTP_timeattack, so I prayed they would fight a lot leaving me some air to breath in and keep on saving my tires.. That did NOT happend..
By lap 26-27ish, I was dead meat. And as soon as Aderrrm and timeattack passed me, Wardez and SuperSic cought up to me as well. So there we were, 3 cars trying to battle thru dunlop.. tony sat behind while me and Wardez fought it out. It was tough, but fair imo.
Wardez made a mistake comming out of Degner 2, and I managed to pass him comming up to the hairpin.
My tires was almost done at this time, so I went a bit wide after braking, so tony took the opportunity to pass me on my inside. But I managed to at least get some grip out of the corner, and got really close to tonys tail in 200r. I was well up his inside breaking in to spoon, and because of my lack of grip, and him turing in a tad soon, we made contact. It was not a huge bump at all. tony managed to stay on the wery outside of the track, and at this point, I knew the battle was over, so I just took it as my fault and let him pass. But as long as I can fight, I will. Just because someone got a better pace does not meen I'll let you pass. I've never expected anyone who I'm racing for position with to just roll out the red carpet for me.. No one ever does it to me, and I won't do it to someone else.. If I was about to get lapped, my actions would ofc have been different.
So after this, I ran by my self, and was happy with 5h spot (Behind Aderrrm, timeattack, tony and Wardez).. But on lap 31, my tires was so worn, I had a spin in spoon, and remy cought up to me.
Comming in to 130r on lap 31, I let him pass me effortless down my inside. But from nowhere, I had WeeFreak up my rear.
So with the draft from Remy, and some skilled (If I may say so) driving on really bad tires, I managed to keep WeeFreak behind me.
Down the back straight on the last lap, I saw Wardez had major issues, going wery slow, so me, Remy and WeeFreak passed him. Remy sailed away in the distance, and it was me and WeeFreak to battle for 5th.. It was a super close battle and finish! I managed to keep him behind me by a couple of 1/100's I guess..
Awesome race!! Even though I had a really good shot at a better position prior me getting damaged, I'm super happy with the race as a whole. I had a blast. Thanks to all of you who raced alongside me giving me this experiance. And I also want to appologize if anyone felt I drove too defensive, or fought back too much. Sorry.
Heat 2.
Biffy, you do uderastad that I braked because someone ahead of me did as well, right?
Imo, the mayham in our lane was caused way more up front than my 8th place. I don't know what it was, but I guess that someone kept an unsteady pace, that triggered our lane to get messed up like it did.
The start was a mess.
But apart from that, racing with all you guys is a blast.
I had a shot at 5th in the sprint race for a lap or two, but made an unforced error in.......... yep.. 130r.. The good thing about this spot is that it's close to the pits.. Right tony, Aderrm, TA?
Had a bad run after my pit, and ended up in 12th..
In the end of the day, I had a blast! 👍
We need to improve some details regarding the pole car.
Usually, the pole driver is an experianced such, but when turning the grid around like we did, a driver that's not used to leading the formation lap will end up there.
Just make sure to keep 100 km/h, and while forming the field prior start, keep an even pace. Other than that.. Super Sunday! 👍
Looking much forward to Spa.
It probably wasn't our best showing in our NSXs today.. But it just makes team TAKATA hungrier for next week.
