This was the one race on this schedule that I was
truly looking forward to doing. I love driving Daytona Road Course in practically anything, but give me a Group C/GTP car on top of that and you definitely have my attention! I'd struggled with the EV barges in previous races, so a light, nimble racecar that ACTUALLY STOPS was a nice change. My Free Practice times were within half a second of the top time, so I was feeling especially good about this race, and was hoping I could finally get a result up to my standards.
Slot 1: I qualified 11th, then froze just as the grid walk was starting...judging from the streams I saw of this race, I had a decent chance of winning the thing because of how chaotic the start was, in spite of it being a legit Top Split lobby. At the very least, I was looking forward to having a battle with
@Geauxgreddy like in our practice lobbies.
Slot 2: I switched my connection over to my actual router instead of my phone's hot spot (which, believe it or not, is usually more reliable than my router). For some reason, (maybe the 4 extra cars each race), my phone seemed unable to handle staying connected to the Porsche Challenge races specifically (including lag and 2 disconnects in last week's races). Fortunately this slot was still relatively stacked, and I managed to qualify P5, just ahead of
@OutlawQuadrnt. I was on the receiving end of a chain-reaction punt into T1 at the start, but fortunately I stayed on the track, even though I did pick up rear end damage (Outlaw came out way worse from it after being punted into me and several others). From my practice races with
@Geauxgreddy, I knew running flat-out and pitting would be quicker than trying to save fuel, so I went on the attack immediately while almost everyone else saved fuel, moving past P4 down the front stretch to start Lap 2. P2 ran off track after getting too eager on the throttle at the exit of the International Horseshoe, which promoted me to P3. I was all over the back of the new P2, but couldn't find a way by despite being quicker on the straights due to not saving fuel. I finally got by at the start of Lap 5, and very quickly built up a gap, while also closing down on P1. I set Fastest Lap on Lap 9 just before I pitted on Lap 10, by which time I'd closed the gap to the leader to under 3s. Coming out of the pits I was still P3, JUST in front of the car I'd been fighting for P2 earlier. In spite of making a mistake at the turn that leads back to the oval on Lap 12 and losing the spot, I was easily able to re-pass down the front straight to start the final lap. Up ahead, once again P2 had issues out of the International Horseshoe, only this time it was a disconnect, gifting me P2 once again, which would end up being my final result.
Thankfully, the points in this slot were still worth something, and I was still able to score 323 points, which beats my previous record for most points scored (also at Daytona Road Course) by 3 points. This also means I still have yet to finish off the podium at the Daytona Road Course, and now 3 of 4 of my results here are over 300 points. A great way to end what was an otherwise disappointing championship campaign.
