Second time out in the Gr.4 Scooby this year. Learnt the hard way in test lobbies that my originally-planned 1-stop strategy was essentially useless and slipstream was again the deciding factor between fighting at the front or being left behind. Avoiding the tyre stack at Turn 4 was no mean feat, either.
Despite these hurdles, I prepared for the 19:40 slot by practicing a few techniques from
@Mistah_MCA's guide. Shaved nearly a tenth out of my FP lap and achieved consistent low-to-mid 57s in test lobbies, a good enough sign that the WRX was in for another decent race.
19:40 Manufacturers
Polyphony's matchmaking system must have thought it had potential, for I was given driver door #1 in a lobby also featuring
@SRT DK Racing. A varied mix of power and handling cars on show tonight, including a Megane Trophy and a McLaren. 55.9s were achievable in later test lobbies and the actual qualifying session didn't go badly either, with a 56.097 set straight out of the box. Felt I could have gone one better if I hadn't gone in too deep at the final hairpin, but before I could prove that point I binned the car at Turn 1 and returned to the lobby screen after realising it was pointless to complete the second lap after letting traffic past. Initially two-tenths off provisional pole, the first lap was still quick enough for me to start 6th on the grid. Top 5 places were filled by Lexus, Audi, Aston, the McLaren and a Toyota 86 which theoretically would be a prime target for slipstreaming.
Switched to Hards and burnt fuel like a steam engine on the grid formation sequence. Everyone started on the Hard tyre with only two drivers deciding to pit as the race progressed (more on that later). The first couple of laps were spent drafting the Toyota while trying to build up a decent buffer over the blue Lexus behind. I'm lucky that the WRX has excellent traction out of tighter corners which allowed me to pull away effortlessly from the Lexus coming out of the hairpin. On Lap 3, I got good enough slipstream down the start/finish straight to attempt a pass on the Toyota, but went to the outside as I felt he was not giving enough space for a pass on the inside. The Lexus capitalises on this by braking later and snatching 6th; I was, however, happy to let him take the line through Turns 2-3 as I felt he would be a better threat to the Toyota.
In return, the Lexus gave me enough of a slipstream to stay ahead of the Spanish Peugeot who I expected would fade away sooner or later. Lexus finally gets past the Toyota on Lap 9, but the result of this is that we are now closely stacked together going into Turn 1 and the Peugeot - much to my surprise - has joined the back of the train. There were some connection quirks which did put me off slightly, but two laps later another chance came to out-drag the Toyota into Turn 1. I move to the inside, but the Toyota surges ahead in the tow of the Lexus so I'm forced to back out. We catch up to the pole-sitting Lexus in Eneos orange, who right from the start was struggling for pace and had lost touch with the rest of the frontrunners. Again, I draw alongside the Toyota, but the Toyota has the slipstream. The blue Lexus runs wide at Turn 6 and we all bunch up again going into the hairpin. I take to the outside... and the Peugeot decides to fight me for 7th!
I held the Pug off at first, but slotted between him and the French Jaguar on the approach to Turn 4. I slightly miss my braking point into the hairpin, which has the effect of pushing the Pug forward past the Eneos Lexus. Next thing I know, I'm on the left as the Toyota, Eneos Lexus and myself run three-wide down the start-finish straight. I wanted to make sure I kept my nose in front by the time we reached Turn 1, and I did... but not without making contact with the Lexus which sends him into the gravel trap. I made up to him afterwards explaining that I was on the inside, but it turns out that as I hooked the kerb my right-rear touched his left-front and that sent him understeering. It was surprising to me that I didn't receive a penalty for either bits of contact, and in a way karma was coming as the Toyota gets me and the blue Lexus between Turns 4 and 5. I back out to avoid another collision, and in doing so have to yield to the French Jag hurtling down the slalom.
Stuck around with the Lexus and Jag to the end, all while getting increasingly apprehensive about the Porsche gaining on us. As I had predicted, the Peugeot had fallen back into our range with a badly worn right-front, but not far back enough for any of us to capitalise on it. The Porsche threat didn't last, either, as he got biffed onto the grass at Turn 4 by another Jaguar in white and blue. So, the pink WRX bags 8th as the Toyota decides to show off by crossing the line backwards; with the Eneos Lexus falling further and further back, the McLaren came out as the surprise winner!
There were times where I felt boxed in and unable to do much in the slipstream, but at the very least I kept out of the tyre stack and had plenty of great getaways from the hairpin thanks to the WRX's four-wheel drive. Tyres held up nicely again with front wear being fairly close to those of the Toyota and Jaguar up front; lap times were mainly strings of consistent low-to-mid 57s. The only real BoP adjustment I think the Scoobies need right now is a little more punch from the Boxer, but other than that I'm happy with the general performance and consistency I've been getting out of both versions recently. Suspecting that Tokyo might not be the best place for the Gr.4 car (
especially with Softs being the only compound in use), so likely to use that as an opportunity to take a break and make further preparations for the Gr.3 Nürburgring round in just over two weeks' time.
As I briefly mentioned earlier, there were two runners who ended up running a 1-stop. First, the Alfa starting behind me crashed at Turn 4 after contact with the French Jag and switched to Softs soon after. So too did the Alpine-liveried Megane Trophy on Lap 20 after languishing at the very back. I did wonder a few times during practice whether qualifying and the no-stopper would make the Mediums redundant in higher splits, and checking my replay to see those runs kind of proved my point. Curious to know why Polyphony decided to make all three compounds available if that was going to be the case...
(I was fine on tyres though
