Right, this is long overdue, but ever since Saturday night I didn’t have the proper time to sit and think about a decent writeup for our event. But if had just two words for what happened last Saturday night I would describe it as: “SIMPLY AWESOME”!
But of course I have more than two words to describe this. Let’s start with the – very impressive – lineup of top gtplanet drivers attending (well, if you don’t count me LOL).
TEAM 1
Car: HONDA MOBIL 1 NSX
Driver1 – marchbrown
Driver 2 - GTP_JvM
TEAM 2
Car: TOYOTA CASTROL TOM’s SUPRA
Driver 1 – Theewar
Driver 2 - GTP_Tzayed
TEAM 3
Car: NISSAN FAIRLADY Z CONCEPT LM
Driver 1 - GTP_Hun
Driver 2 – GTP_Synwraith
TEAM 4
Car: NISSAN YELLOWHAT YMS TOMICA
Driver 1 - GTP_Stealthwinnr
Driver 2 – GTP_Graffen_T-L
TEAM 5
Car: FORD GT LM Race Car SPEC II
Driver 1 – FINGERSANDTHUMBS
Driver 2 – D34NO_33
TEAM 6
Car: NISSAN XANAVI NISMO Z
Driver 1: GTP_PASM
Driver 2: GTP_spyrrari1
TEAM 7:
Cars: NISSAN YELLOWHAT GT-R and NISSAN XANAVI NISMO GT-R
Driver1: GTP_DGiant2000
Driver2: GT5rs_Wayne
Sadly, we lost Wayne (first) and Stealthwinnr (later) during the race, and that effectively put a premature end to their team’s races, therefore classified 7th and 6th.
Now, a lap-by-lap account of the race.
Lap1 - was a bit messy for all but Theewar (2.07,528) and GTP_PASM (2.11,229). All others hit problems, after all pack racing is not easy and even if you don’t do mistakes you can be seriously hampered by other’s mistakes. Yours truly, although with a very poor 2.18,674 in this first lap, managed to jump from 6th to 3rd, after the drivers above mentioned. Not bad or so I thought
Lap2 - witnessed the beginning of the lightning speeds at the front, with both Theewar and PASM hitting 2.05 times. I was 3rd and did a poor 2.09 … marchbrown breathing on my neck did a 2.10.
Lap3 - while PASM in second repeats a 2.05, Theewar shows who’s boss and manages a 2.04 … he was flying away from everyone else. As for me … oh well, marchbrown got me and my 3rd place. Third fastest in this lap was GTP_STealthwinnr, with a 2.10. And he was 5th, now behind me in 4th. We were quite busy fighting among ourselves, that much I remember LOL
Lap 4 – By the end of this lap, the “shuffle” between drivers started. Theewar in 1st, PASM in 2nd, and FINGERSANDTHUMBS in 6th, decide it’s time to pit. Theewar was so much in front after just 4 race laps that his team mate (GTP_Tzayed) manages to leave pit lane right in front of the pack of the so far three fighters for 3rd place: marchbrown, myself and GTP_Stealthwinnr. Running order than becomes: 1st – GTP_Tzayed; 2nd – marchbrown; 3rd – GTP_Hun; 4th GTP_Stealthwinnr; 5th GTP_spyrrari1; 6th GTP_DGiant2000; 7th D34NO_33
Lap 5 – Marchbrown managed to overtake GTP_Tzayed during this lap but his lead didn’t last long because he also (as me, GTP_Stealthwinnr and GTP_DGiant2000) had to pit. So, GTP_Tzayed recovered the lead, followed by GTP_spyrrari1. Since I managed to overtake marchbrown in the pits …
… GTP_Synwraith rejoined the track in 3rd position!
Lap 6 – Nothing special happens in this lap, all #2 drivers are on track now doing their first stint. Running order is now:
1st – GTP_Tzayed
2nd – GTP_spyrrari1
3rd – GTP_Synwraith
4th – GTP_JvM
5th – GTP_Graffen
6th – D34NO_33
7th – GT5rs-Wayne
Lap 7 – GTP_Synwraith is now the fastest driver on the track, quickly closing on GTP_spyrrari and GTP_Tzayed. Not enough to gain positions though, the only change in this lap is made by D34NO_33, he overtook GT_Graffen from 6th to 5th
Lap 8 – All drivers keep “at it”, but GTP_spyrrari1 pits (making his team be the first to do it twice). GTP_PASM returns the car to the track in 4th place, behind Tzayed, Synwraith and JvM.
Lap 9 – Now Tzayed and Graffen pit also, thus making Theewar and Stealthwinnr start also their second stints. Team strategy is slowly becoming a major issue in the race now, and clearly the positions on the track have now become a mere indicator of what’ REALLY happening. Anyway, the running order is now this:
1st – GTP_Synwraith
2nd – GTP_JvM
3rd – Theewar
4th – GTP_PASM
5th – D34NO_33
6th – GTP_Stealthwinnr
7th – GT5rs_Wayne
Lap 10 – And the order is again shuffled. GTP_Synwraith, GTP_ JvM, D34N0_33 and GT5rs_Wayne also pit. Theewar and PASM return to 1st and 2nd places, but the “chasing” teams of Jon/JvM and Hun/Synwraith benefited from the excellent “Driver #2” stints and are very close to the leaders now. Stealthwinnr, Fingers and DGiant2000 fell back a bit though …
Lap 11 – Drama hits the race, Theewar crashes heavily, spins and while trying to regain the track he loses not only the lead to PASM, but also 2nd place to me. Marchbrown is 4th, Fingers 5th, Stealthwinnr 6th and DGiant 7th.
Lap 12 – Head down and doing his best, Theewar his – by far – the fastest man on the track with a 2.04 … gaining two full seconds against both PASM (1st) and me (2nd), we both doing a 2.06 lap. All others keep their positions.
Lap 13 – PASM pits, I become race leader, Theewar gains two more seconds and is now all over my rear view mirror … I’m losing my tyres … oh boy oh boy … I’ll stay out another lap, trying to make life harder for Warren and easier for my team mate !
Lap 14 – Well, I suck at this when it really matters. Tyres worn out, Warren goes by and I … CRASH … I don’t lose 2nd position, but my “I’m not fast so I’ll try to be consistent” looked a bit flawed by now …. Meanwhile we have in this lap our first casualty, Wayne disappears and that means DGiant, without a team mate, can no longer keep on racing. We’re one team down now! In this very eventful lap, marchbrown, Stealthwinnr … and myself … we all pit and our team mates hit the track for a second time.
Lap 15 – Nothing special happens in this lap, Theewar and Spyrrari are 1st and 2nd, then Synwraith, and JvM. Fingers pits in 5th for D34NO’s second stint, Graffen remains last, in 6th position.
Lap 16 – Theewar pits finally and again a blistering fast pace from him allowed Adam to regain the track in the lead. Nothing else changes.
Lap 17 – spyrrari’s turn to pit, they are doing shorter stints and this means that PASM is about to start his LAST stint (or so he thought … ) only one lap after Theewar – also a driver 1 - finished his second one. It seems tyre management can indeed play a role in this race. PASM regained the track in 4th place, behind Synwraith (2nd) and JvM (3rd).
Mid-race reached! Time, maybe, for a little recap! So, we have:
1 - Theewar/GTP_Tzayed – race leaders. Theewar completed two stints, Adam is doing his second. Theewar is giving a show of fast driving, but made one costly mistake. They made a short first stint, and apparently bigger middle stints are the option. Tzayed, freshly returned to GT5 and with little knowledge of the track, is holding his ground and keeping the car up there.
2 – GTP_Hun/GTP_Synwraith – Maz is Maz, he delivers and has been doing it this race also. As for me, well, not at all bad, but a stupid mistake could’ve and should’ve been avoided. Second place is nice, we are definitely in contention. We did longer first stints than the leaders, but shorter second stints.
3 – marchbrown/GTP_JvM – Fast but hard to drive car, a difficult first stint for marchbrown, this team is made of two very fast drivers, not used to give up. No mistakes allowed, these boys mean business and want to win. Funnily, they did so far exactly the same pit strategy as we did.
4 – GTP_PASM/GTP_Spyrrari1 – PASM’s performance was nothing short of jaw –dropping (and his best lap was yet to come). He was immediately on the pace, and in the second half he did in fact do the best lap of all the race. Considering the length of the track, and that it was entirely new to him … it was an amazing performance. Spyrrari’s performance was also very good, but in spy's case he clearly didn’t feel at ease with the car/track combo as quickly. In any case, a very solid performance from this team. Was to be expected, but its always nice to see quality driving from the usual suspects.
5 – FINGERSANDTHUMBS/D34NO_33 – This team had a very hard time in this race. Not only their car was not an easy one (although it had the best sound, hands down), but their main problem was that for some reason their tire supplier took the wrong spec of tyres to the track (racing hard instead of medium). All things considered, their pace was amazing. To get 2.08 laps with hard tyres … in a Ford GT … is not something I thought possible!
6 – GTP_Stealthwinnr/GTP_Graffen_T-L – Again in this team we had a mix. Both drivers are GT5P veterans, GTR Evolution veterans, and very evenly matched. Both were also returning to online serious activities and neither knew the track. Apparently, Stealthwinnr - being immediately on the pace - adapted quicker than Graffen. In any case, Graffen got better with each stint he did and he, the greatest
“It’s only a game” philosophical player I know, didn’t seem too bothered anyway.
7 – GTP_DGiant2000 / GT5rs_Wayne - Wayne simply didn’t know the track, in fact he wasn’t supposed to take part in the race itself, he would just drive the pace car to lead the installation laps . But Dgiant’s team mate (GTP_Eriba) couldn’t connect to the lobby so Wayne accepted this last minute job, only way that would make it possible for DGiant to take part. Fair play to you Wayne! Sadly … the team had his race cut short also when Wayne himself lost connection. So … we never got to see what some mileage could do to them.
To be continued …
. Graffen is still on the track, but without a teammate to hand over the car when his stint finishes, he is forced to retire. A sad end for their effort ... 
👍 ) but he must pit before the end, that much we know ...
when I started I thought "...well, it's a small race, it would be nice to do a lap-by-lap account ..." 💡
