What a race! Well the ending was not that good, but the rest was very good. I enjoyed it.
Had a bad place at the start because I did not have the time to do the qualifying procedure. Eleventh out of thirteen... Well these things happen.
The start of the race had me close
@mirial but he kept me behind for a bit before I overtook him on the final corner of lap 2, because of his mistake.
Before that, on the hairpin of the track,
@Saphzeus was alongside my car because I had a bad exit by my attempts to overtake mirial.
Then I tried to catch up to
@richroo who was one second away. I gradually caught him up, on lap 4 he made a mistake on the hairpin and I caught him up by the chicane. On the final corner I attempted to overtake him but I failed, not tragically.
Nothing to report about lap 5, only an
other attempt to overtake on the outside, however that overtake happened and I raised up to ninth.
Lap 6, I tried to catch up to
@nissman in eighth place, but I also saw the tag of
@Danny Burke up ahead.
However there was an incident where
@Daniel199025 spun out,
@Stephen Vann and
@DeltaJuliet couldn't avoid him. I thought there was some kind of incident where Logic pushed D199025 wide and Mike was involved as well, but I was proven wrong. 👍
I took advantage from it and I ended up being sixth! The race would end very good, I hoped.
Then onto lap 9... I overtook nissman and was going for B_2JZ. He made a mistake and I had the opportunity to pass, I did, but he spun out by magic.
Nothing else to happen on the next few laps, I tried to catch up, but
@Gueven Art and the second-third place battle kept. I thought they would lose time but oh well
Then I saw
@andp132 in front of me. I thought he heavily crashed put but as I saw on the mini map, he did not do such a thing, following his retirement. At least it was due to lag.
Nothing following the majority of the laps as we were going on. I pit forty five minutes after race start. I was sceptic of a one pit stop strategy, especially for this track as it was short and two pit stops would be too much, unless you were on the first places and with a big gap between you and the car behind.
The time came for me to pit. Forty five minutes before race end lap forty to forty one. I did not lose too many places. Only two. From Delta and Logic. Nissman pit the same lap as I did but D1990_25 overtook him, unlike me.
The fuel was kind of a dilemma, mainly because of Motegi, where Mirial and Logic had to pit again after fuel miscounting. I decided to full 6 liters less than full, and I nearly run out of fuel on the final lap.
Then, I tried to catch up to Logic who would pit five minutes later and Mike who had a two pit stop strategy. Gutted to see my forty third lap was five milliseconds slower than my personal best (1:03,724 personal best, then 1:03,729 on lap forty three) but I was glad to see my pace being steady on the high 1:03s and low 1:04s. I did some low 1:05s and mid to high 1:04s as well, but these were faulty laps.
Following Logic's pit on lap forty four, three laps later than me, the race did not have any battles for me, but I was trying to escape from whoever was the closest person behind me. I partly did.
Then Mike pit on lap fifty nine to sixty. I thought I secured the podium but there was a chance that either Logic or Mike would catch me up.
I then saw Logic losing speed. A lot of speed. I wondered, but it seemed that the race would end dramatically for me, tragically (by losing podium chances) for him.
My tyres were eighteen laps older than Mike's, and four laps older than Logic's.
Ten minutes remaining, lapped mirial was behind me. He was much faster because of a pit stop he made, but I tried to be ahead. Then, he pit again.
I hoped Logic would keep that gap I had but he eventually was overtaken on lap seventy eight. Damn it!
Mike was significantly catching up, until he arrived. He was near me, with extremely high chances of overtaking on eighteen laps younger tyres. My hands started shaking out of extreme agony. Tried to maximise the gap as much as possible, but it was
impossible
.
On lap eighty he lost time by bumping the chicane. I relieved a lot, but my relief would not last any longer.
Then I saw my fuel light going red. Things could not get any worse. My front left tyre was near to death, when my right side tyres were far less worn.
Hoping he would crash, but unfortunately for me he did not. I had to fight for the podium.
Lap 83 - Total Massacre!
Final breaths. Mike was so close. The speed difference was huge, and I saw that by the hairpin. He overtook me, but I did not lose my hopes for a podium.
He had a worse exit from the hairpin, and I had the slipstream. Braked earlier to avoid any crashes.
Mike eventually hit the barrier. I had the chance to overtake him, and I did. My fuel levels were critically low.
Final corners. Changed from third person to hood view, I could slightly hear Mike's GT-R behind me.
I got the final corner line that I get every lap on that circuit, but, some kind of force pulled me out of the racing line. It was Mike, on a desperate (in my opinion) attempt to get the podium. I lost A LOT of speed, and span out. It was logical to scream out profanities, right?
I could not see Logic coming up, and he crashed into me. I received rear left wheel damage.
🤬!
Race ended horrifically bad for me. I asked if we can revert to the results before the crash. 💡
Anyways. The stewards will decide, not me. 👍
Ragequitting and lag must stop. Well, lag can't completely stop, but just reducings would help significantly.
WELL DONE GUEVEN - 
Haha (I know I know John was on old tyres but still 
