Since everyone else is doing it...
Starting from 12th, the first corner was surprisingly drama-free. I tried and failed an outside pass, so I got back in line. Given I was on a one-stop strategy, I knew that pushing the tires early was a no-no, but with the nose washing on me behind someone, the wear rate was not very good. Something happened at the start of Sector 3 at the tight chicane. Not sure what, but fortunately for me, I was able to get through using the outside line, but it pretty much ended any chances of getting a Top 5. I ended up being in a 3-4 car pack racing for 10th. Eddie got around us, and like I suspected, the Yellow GTR pulled away.
At or around Lap 10, two cars from behind caught up, and thanks to the Z's fall-off, I slipped a bit in Sector 3, sending me back to 15th. At this point, I wondered whether this was going to be a common theme all season, with the car's pace being the worst of all the JGTC cars. Then Jason had his scare on the long-right hander, allowing me to climb a few positions. When I saw cars starting to pit, I looked at my tires. Still good, so I kept going all the way to Lap 23, with Tony and maybe two others the only ones still running.
Pit stop... wasn't very good. The game has always given me way too little fuel so I added ten more liters than its suggestion. In retrospect, I could've been okay with five, but alas, no amount of button pushing allowed me to leave the box early.
Back on the circuit, I was 15th again, all by myself, but I noticed Wii was catching up. I thought it may be better to let him catch up so we could work together... except I had the feeling his tires would fall off a cliff like it did on the first stint. Therefore, I did what I could to not allow him to sniff my draft. Big help came from joshua, as I allowed him by, knowing his tires were fresher. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold on very long, and was once again on my own. From there on, I did a check behind me at the straightaway, seeing how far back the two-stop cars were.
Then, after 30 laps or so, exiting the last corner, it happened. Wii suddenly lost positions in a hurry. He crashed, I thought. Unfortunately, once I saw a ghosted car at T1, I knew the GT5 gods decided that I'm not allowed to have fun, and zapped me into next Tuesday. I was all alone, still running, but there was no point in going any further except for pride.
1:16:13.109
Once I returned to today, without saying anything, I chucked my helmet into a wall, threw my gloves on the ground, and walked into the Herman Tilke parking lot that is Fuji, never to return again...
(insert dramatic cliffhanger music here)
) ; then paul's HSV created a big smoke show in front of me which I thankfully got through ok to be in a good train from 4th with firework, snow, ealirendur, mule, and kevin. 
