2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

[Tidgney]

Well well well. After yet another frustrating FIA round and an underwhelming result, I needed some time to try to understand why, especially in "sprint" races with no real strategy involved, I basically suck and usually finish significantly lower than my grid position. For this round, my FP time was actually very good with a 2:27:7xx and an optimal of .4xx, and "easily" doing low 28's so I was feeling pretty confident, although my race pace seemed clearly not as good, especially over the mountain (in the 30's in clean air).

So here is a (poorly edited) video that I long hesitated to make and show here. I really want to emphasise that I have absolutely no intention to shame or blame any of the players involved (especially NOT @Tidgney 's move which clearly is a racing incident IMO). You can definitely judge me though !

No, the reason I do this is because I'd love to have some feedback and opinions on my driving in those 3 first laps, the part of the race of which the end result pretty much depends...

I edited the video as follows (3 clips) :

1 - My "live" - unedited PoV of the 3 first laps
2 - The PoV of 2 drivers in particular whose actions/decisions had a huge impact on my race
3 - A bonus clip of a last lap moment, after an exhausting but still somehow enjoyable race full of shenaningans

Could you please tell me what I do right or wrong in clips 1 and 3 ? Any tips to race more effectively in those situations ?
In clip 2, how would you objectively judge the driving of the Spaniard and the Brit ? Is it okay, on the edge, too much ? The thing is, I'm definitely NOT a top split driver and I'm just wondering if this is what I should expect from that level of racing, maybe my vision of the whole thing is wrong and I should just adapt ?

Was a good race, I was surprised you left the inside open though which is why I went down there ! The annoying thing was it was the kerb that caused it as we were very tight the kerb bounced me off slightly (Only reason for the contact) but as we were literally close it caused the bounce, although as you said I feel like that's a racing incident. I've just watched it back and I don't even get a collision sound !

Rule of thumb the easier it is to drive the car the harder the racing will be as there are far less mistakes so expect more aggressive driving but that happens throughout the DR range and not just top split (I'm technically not top split anymore as I gave up caring about DR awhile ago haha ).

In terms of the clips:

Clip 1; It's so hard to go 2 wide out of that corner so for me personally the minute I saw the Spaniard go to the right I think I would have backed out of it. I mean you don't have to and I definitely think there's a tiny bit of out braking there by the Spaniard but I don't think it's that severe personally and I think that's ok.

Clip 3; I'm assuming this is going up the mountain? I personally wouldn't have gone for that as that part of the circuit is always so dangerous 2 wide unless I was completely along side, like ridiculously so, so contact chance is very high. It's also hard for a car on the outside to get it right because if you get it wrong, even slightly you end up in the barrier.

 

[GR33N]

Was a good race, I was surprised you left the inside open though which is why I went down there ! The annoying thing was it was the kerb that caused it as we were very tight the kerb bounced me off slightly (Only reason for the contact) but as we were literally close it caused the bounce, although as you said I feel like that's a racing incident. I've just watched it back and I don't even get a collision sound !

Rule of thumb the easier it is to drive the car the harder the racing will be as there are far less mistakes so expect more aggressive driving but that happens throughout the DR range and not just top split (I'm technically not top split anymore as I gave up caring about DR awhile ago haha ).

In terms of the clips:

Clip 1; It's so hard to go 2 wide out of that corner so for me personally the minute I saw the Spaniard go to the right I think I would have backed out of it. I mean you don't have to and I definitely think there's a tiny bit of out braking there by the Spaniard but I don't think it's that severe personally and I think that's ok.

Clip 3; I'm assuming this is going up the mountain? I personally wouldn't have gone for that as that part of the circuit is always so dangerous 2 wide unless I was completely along side, like ridiculously so, so contact chance is very high. It's also hard for a car on the outside to get it right because if you get it wrong, even slightly you end up in the barrier.

Thanks for this great feedback. To @D_Dragline as well for the cheering up !

About your move on me, given the speed difference and the fact that you had already moved completely to the left, me "closing the door" would be considered as pure blocking in my opinion. So... surprised that you were surprised I left the inside open there, because to me it was just the fair thing to do ! 💁🏻

Good luck if you're doing Manu today.

 

[Mistah_MCA]

He @Mistah_MCA thanks for the guide once more! Question: I'm driving the McLaren 650s and can hardly keep it on the road with the hards and worn tyres. Did you happen to try a H-M-S-S strategy since the time loss is not that big I just might gamble on people having a hard time too. Do you (and the people here) think that would work?

Hi, sorry for the late reply!
3 stop won't work. If we had the older pit stop system, that may have been possible, but not with this one.
If tires wear out fast for you, you may need to pit in a bit earlier and have a longer Hard stint.

 

[SweatyC]

Glad that round is out the way, track isn’t one of my favourites. Qualified 4th though which was better than expected.

Opted to start on Softs and take on Hards next and finish on Mediums. Got passed easily by a couple of Soft runners at the end. Only lost one place so happy with that. 3 of the top 5 started mid pack so nailing strategy is key.

If you’re starting 8th/9th or lower you start in the final corners.

 

[Hdbd04]

I loathe my thinking during the race. Qualified 15th which was expected. I knew that the track would be unpleasant for a boat like the AMG, but never I thought that it would handle like a cargo ship when racing in hards.
More so, the intelligence of my brain mistaken that instead of switching to mediums at the end of lap 2 or 3 (based on Mistah_MCA's guide), I drove on hards for 7 laps. Because of my genius, the period of the mediums only lasted for 3 laps. The drive was miserable to my part and I didn't want to be in this track any longer and finished 19th. It's a shame because the original direction is my favourite track. 1k Dr has been lost as a result and I'm glad that Gr.1 Le Mans is next for the Nations Cup.

At least I learned something in the end.

 

[Hasnain282]

Gr.1 Le Mans is next for the Nations Cup.

No Nations Cup this Wednesday, it'll be the week after

 

[Hdbd04]

No Nations Cup this Wednesday, it'll be the week after

I know that. It's good to have that time gap for practising.

 

[D_Dragline]

Asia slot 3 and door 13. Hadn’t done a load of practice but for some reason I always feel good at LMGP2.

Qualifying was ok. Didn’t nail either lap, but managed a 55.3 for Q7.

Decided to start on the mediums and see where things stood at lap 8.

First few laps felt good and I got past a Ferrari on hards and then p4 who had started on hards pitted. P2-4 were having an intense battle and slowing each other down allowing me to tack on the back of the train. Lap 4 and I got past an R8, lap 5 P3 pits off softs and I’m up to P3.

The race leader in a Supra is leaving us all in the dust and pits on p6 to go from softs to mediums. Then P2 dumps the mediums for hards on the same lap and I’m leader on the track. But it’s only brief as I let the Supra by as he is super-quick and I want to avoid slowing us both down.

I then pit for hards lap 8 and return to track in p3. Just do one lap and then go to softs for the final stint. I’m now P8, but pretty confident only one car in front (a Lancer on softs) has boxed twice.

Sure enough, I make few overtakes and everyone else pits and I am p4 with 3 laps left. P3 is a WRX on hards and P2 a Lancer on softs one lap older than mine.

I get the WRX through turn 1 on lap 13 and take 1.5 seconds out of p2s 3 second gap. I start the final lap 0.6 behind the Lancer. A sensational battle for the entire last lap but he defends well and I can’t get by despite being quicker.

I pick up a very solid podium and 202pts. My best ever points haul.

One and done and loved this combo.

 

[Adam Barber]

Well that race went well, in qualifying set my fastest lap at Maggiore to end up 4th overall. Start of the race and was up to 2nd at the end of my first stint with a faster beetle right behind me. Second and third stints were relatively quiet and ended up 3rd overall as the beetle took mediums there first stop while I took hards. Best ever Manufacturers score so I'm taking that and running.

17d61e02d5e46-screenshotUrl.jpg

• Adam Barber
• Nov 27, 2021

 

[NekoPufferPPP]

Hi, sorry for the late reply!
3 stop won't work. If we had the older pit stop system, that may have been possible, but not with this one.
If tires wear out fast for you, you may need to pit in a bit earlier and have a longer Hard stint.

I'm confused.

4 stops is better? Softs wear out too fast, I start struggling after 2 laps. Hards are always rubbish. Meds seem to have the best life-performance ratio.

 

[crusselz]

Slot 1 EMEA

Managed to get a pretty good quali lap in, a 54.7, good enough for Q3.

Chose to start on the medium compound, was overtaken by a WRX on lap 1, clearly he was on the softs, tried to stick with him. Before they eventually went off the track on the last turn. Back up to P3.
Spaniard in P2 spun out on the next lap, up to P2. But the leader was in a race of his own. Eventually got caught and overtaken by the Spaniard, who clearly was on a different strategy. Settled in to P3.

6M/5H/4S. Thought I had thrown a podium away, but strategy only just worked, as I passed the Spaniard as he came out of the pits at the start of lap 15.

P1 stormed to a win, in the Nissan, 18s up the road. I definitely didn't have the pace to challenge them for the win.

Brought it home in P2. A great race, lots of clean drivers.

+201 points
+1400 DR

One and done for me.

 

[Mercia]

May I say Championes, Championes and also Ole, Ole and a further Ole

Started pole with a 1:58 flat, chuffed as that's only my second pole in the game I think. I'm preferring this track backwards in terms of my own speed. Of course I started putting pressure on myself at that point and inevitably in the first lap I'm trying too hard and get launched off the sausage curb, thought that was it from there.



Was 5th once I got back going but in the end just too fast here for the pack and was leading again after first pit stop. Pretty straightforward from there for me, went S>M>H soft lasted 5, mediums 8 and finished on the hards about 4 seconds up the road from a couple of cars who had pit stratted their way from 14 and 16th respectively, well done to those guys that must have been some drive.

Delighted to make up for the horror show at Bathurst and surprised myself to grab a pole and be too fast in the race that even a massive mistake couldn't stop me.. believe me that is not my usual style

Good luck to all taking part and remember, abuse the curbs and runoff everywhere here. Track limits? We don't know her.

 

[MCL1974]

I had done a lot of practice as this was pretty much a new track to me. Midd last week i was getting good at it and all I needed was a bit more lobby practice to top things off...

Then live hit me, and hit me hard. Was informed Thursday evening that my father was rushed to hospital. Initially thought it was a stroke, as my mother, who has early alzheimer was in panic and could not give any clear info. It turned out that he was actually infected with Covid and is now in hospital while we are trying to take care off my mother, which is not easy with her condition, especially in the current Covid situation, where we have keep 1.5 meters of distance et cetera.

To top things of my uncle was diagnosed with Prostate cancer that same day so one can imagine that I did not have a fun time the last few days. Fortunately I still can go to work as even in this situation I am allowed to continue doing my shifts even though I have the (small) risk of now being infected myself, and work is a bit of a distraction for me at the moment. (I had made sure to keep 1.5 meters so should be okay, i hope, and with the shortage of staff in these difficult times it is preferred that i come to work but be very careful when there)

Maybe that was the reason that suddenly i was well over a second slower since Friday? All of a sudden i seemed to have trouble negotiating through areas of the circuit and completely lost the flow....

So qualifying today went not very well. Over 2 seconds slower then my best practice time. I anticipated max a second slower then my practice time which would have given me fifth place! But I was all over the place and made to many errors.
So started in 10th on the mediums and went for a strategy of 8M/1H/6S

The race was not very spectacular, although i had a bit of a nice fight with a French Toyota that i could fence off for halve a lap. The rest of the race was a lonely affair and found myself in 6th place when crossing the line. Got my second best score of the season but the race itself did not really satisfy, never felt like i really was in control.

Earlier I had decided to donate 2 Euro to 'Support Casper' (a foundation for raising money for the reseach of pancreas cancer for which i designed my livery) for each place lower then first, so have just sent them 10 EUR.

good luck to all here and stay safe!

 

[xxPinkyKissxx]

Wasn’t massively confident coming into this round but had done a bit of practice and felt that I should be able to get a decent result if I keep it consistent as my practice lap times were decent enough.

Qualifying was a disaster. Didn’t feel like I’d done anything particular wrong but I was 1.3 seconds slower than my quickest free practice lap with a poor 55.8 and it put me down in 12th. Started bang in the middle of the final corners that left me and an M6 cut off from pack in front and also behind. Started on Mediums and took Hards leaving Softs til last. Had a mistake free race and made up 4 places but was going to be hard to better that result after that qualifying. Before qualifying I’d set a target of top 8 and just made it so will take it.

Racing was really clean and professional which made a nice change. However the Portuguese driver who finished 5th was taking a bit of abuse for dirty driving at the end from a number of people.

Saw on the points page that a lot of friends on here picked up big points so well done everyone!

 

[Zorz]

Racing was really clean and professional which made a nice change. However the Portuguese driver who finished 5th was taking a bit of abuse for dirty driving at the end from a number of people.

After seeing who it is, I'm not at all surprised. That's a name that appears fairly frequently on JSR_Devon's GT Sport Idiots of the Week videos if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Tigerhawk87]

I had done a lot of practice as this was pretty much a new track to me. Midd last week i was getting good at it and all I needed was a bit more lobby practice to top things off...

Then live hit me, and hit me hard. Was informed Thursday evening that my father was rushed to hospital. Initially thought it was a stroke, as my mother, who has early alzheimer was in panic and could not give any clear info. It turned out that he was actually infected with Covid and is now in hospital while we are trying to take care off my mother, which is not easy with her condition, especially in the current Covid situation, where we have keep 1.5 meters of distance et cetera.

To top things of my uncle was diagnosed with Prostate cancer that same day so one can imagine that I did not have a fun time the last few days. Fortunately I still can go to work as even in this situation I am allowed to continue doing my shifts even though I have the (small) risk of now being infected myself, and work is a bit of a distraction for me at the moment. (I had made sure to keep 1.5 meters so should be okay, i hope, and with the shortage of staff in these difficult times it is preferred that i come to work but be very careful when there)

Maybe that was the reason that suddenly i was well over a second slower since Friday? All of a sudden i seemed to have trouble negotiating through areas of the circuit and completely lost the flow....

So qualifying today went not very well. Over 2 seconds slower then my best practice time. I anticipated max a second slower then my practice time which would have given me fifth place! But I was all over the place and made to many errors.
So started in 10th on the mediums and went for a strategy of 8M/1H/6S

The race was not very spectacular, although i had a bit of a nice fight with a French Toyota that i could fence off for halve a lap. The rest of the race was a lonely affair and found myself in 6th place when crossing the line. Got my second best score of the season but the race itself did not really satisfy, never felt like i really was in control.

Earlier I had decided to donate 2 Euro to 'Support Casper' (a foundation for raising money for the reseach of pancreas cancer for which i designed my livery) for each place lower then first, so have just sent them 10 EUR.

good luck to all here and stay safe!

View attachment 1096308

Puts things into perspective. Hope you're doing ok yourself and I'm sure I'll not be the only one sending our thoughts your way

 

[xxPinkyKissxx]

After seeing who it is, I'm not at all surprised. That's a name that appears fairly frequently on JSR_Devon's GT Sport Idiots of the Week videos if I'm not mistaken.

Oh haha didn’t know that. Probably would have been involved if I’d qualified better!

 

[Tigerhawk87]

Jaguar, 3rd for 169 points.

First attempt resulted in an 11th place finished but felt I could do better. Attempt 2 - Was sitting in pole until the last few moments of qualifying and would start second.

I'm awful at the start of races so chose the mediums. Dropped to 3rd at the first corner, then fell to 5th after a bit of scrapping, but nothing malicious. Returned to 4th after the pole sitter impaled themself at the last corner barrier. Briefly in first after people pit, I come in end of lap 7 for a 2 lap stint on hards. Emerge in 5th and would stay there until the softs went on. Come back out in 11th. Two passes and three more in the pits so up to 6th. That stays the same until start of lap 14 when others make their last stop and I vault to 3rd.

Delighted with the rare good qualifying outing followed by a very consistent performance. Good luck all going again or yet to go!

 

[Zorz]

I had a good result today, but I think I might need some tuning because I got played like a fiddle by a Toyota!

After having a bad few runs in qualifying lately I managed to put in a good one today, setting a 1:54.7 and securing P3. My best in free practice was a 1:54.1 but I'd been routinely doing mid-high 1:54s so definitely pleased to get a representative lap in when it counts.

Starting so far forward I thought I should start on the Softs, which in hindsight was the wrong decision. The Subaru on pole had started on Softs, but the Toyota in P2 had started on Mediums. After realising the Toyota was going a bit slow through lap 1 sector 1 I started trying to push to get past, but the Subaru had already dropped it by the back straight. Pushing to get past put extra wear on my Softs that I could have done without and I ended up towing the Toyota along until he went into the pits at the end of lap 5.

I went into the pits at the end of lap 6 and fully committed to going softest to hardest on the tyres which again may not have been the best decision in hindsight. I caught up with the Toyota and passed it, but again just ended up giving him a tow whilst he was on Hards. Laps 11/12 were awful and I lost a huge amount of time struggling to get through the technical sections because my Hyundai just didn't feel like it wanted to turn anymore.

I ended up P5 as the Toyota massively undercut me, a Mazda got past me during my Medium stint and a BMW undercut me at some point as well. Very happy with 188 points though, my best score in this Manufacturer season so far.

I thought the Subaru was going to win for sure after seeing it bolt from the start, but it turns out the Toyota reeled it back in. The Subaru wasn't best pleased in the post-race chat though. Watching the replay, they made contact near the end of the race and the Subaru was spun out from it... 😅

Today's result and the podium at Bathurst have made up for the big chunk of DR I lost wailing away at the Nordschleife, so back on the up with a new personal best DR at 46.4k. 🥳 Still hope for breaking into A+ before GT7 if I can keep up the string of good results!

 

[NekoPufferPPP]

AMG, M7/H3/S5. Race is hard as nails. The AMG just isn't good at high-speed cornering, it shreds the tires through the fast chicanes. The fact I was using motion controls probably didn't help the cause either, but I felt safer in case I lost control...such as before the starting line, the usual cold-tire-death spot.

Qualified 13th, finished 8th for 207 points. Two people went off in the first few corners.

I hadn't practiced enough. My first practice lap from like a week ago was over half a second faster than my best practice lap today, on top of that I feel lacking in energy, my brain is all over the place and I'm struggling to keep focus. I'm basically driving on instinct more than anything at this point, so my consistency is almost non-existent.

I'll see how this race's points turn out for others...up 'til today I was the 4th best Mercedes-Benz driver in the EMEA region, and 125th overall in the region. I can't not be happy with that result...

I need to raise my DR in daily races...as I've recently discovered that's what affects the max amount of points available to obtain in a race. I've been wondering for ages how the heck the top racers get like 400 points per race...it's just their DR is so much higher even though we're both A+. The point gap is massive. I'm only a quarter of the way through the progress bar.

 

[OJBrit]

Really seething. Mostly at nothing after all.
After a week away the game and the wheel seem unhappy at me.
The races I've had at the Nord today were filled with a lack of grip everywhere. Understeer into corners and spins out of them. Not sure if I'm driving a barge or a merry go round.
After my only decent result in the dailies I went into my only Manu slot slighty more confident than when I went into the daily.

Qualified okayish in 11th. I was in a gap as I started just before the last corner. Better than those behind and a little back from those who could clear the corner o.k.
Between the lefthanders the car started to drift which of course led to a tank slapper. I didn't go round but I lost several places on the grass. Then the car just didn't brake into the awkward blind left hander after the hairpin. I hit the wall and spun for good measure.
The again coming out of Big Banky Boi the car just drifted wide and span on the gravel. After spinning so many times to even think about facing the right way I gave up and that is today's manu journey over.
Probably my own rustiness but I also feel the cars are just not giving anything today. I have reset my wheel several times which improves it for a few mins before the chronic understeer starts leading to the oversteer off the kerbs which seem so much more deadly today.
The poor coffee table has never seen so much abuse.

 

[Stoobert]

I went in to this race with no expectations and was honestly thinking of pulling out due to the erratic nature of the car on this track. I couldn't get anywhere near the pace and turning was just slide central. Driving without sliding was nearly 6 or 7 seconds off the pace. In one practice race these were my tryes after 2 laps even with no real spins solely due to the nature of how the car was (Hyundai)...

So yeah. Zero epectations. Qualifying came and I waited to go just so I could have some clean air and no cars visible to mess up my concentration. I put in a 55.5 which I felt was horrible, but in this lobby it was good enough to start second...

Race came and starting on the straight was beneficial as it meant there was a pack of 4 or 5 of us that pulled away from those coming around the final complex. I took turn 1 a bit too gingerly and got passed by 3rd and 4th, inheriting said position. Quite quickly it became very obvious that the pole sitter (in a Beetle) was on mediums. He was fast enough that it was incredibly difficult for anyone to pass him without going full kamikaze send, and by the graces, nobody did. Nice clean racing which makes a change from the last three races.

By the end of lap five, there were 8 of us separated by a few seconds and it was getting painfully frustrating. A few people dived in to the pits to get rid of their softs, but I figured the tyres were OK so stayed out an extra lap with the intent to come in and do the hard stint. Coming out of the hard stint I was caught up with a few slower people in front slowing me down again. At the end of lap 7 everyone in the top 5 came in to ditch the mediums. I did my 3 laps and got out on the mediums. By the end of lap 12 everyone had done their pitstops and I was sitting 6th, and this is where I finished. Only 130 odd points, but I felt this was damage limitation.

Looking back at the replay, the top 5 at the end were people who started on mediums and transitioned to softs. 5th and 6th were us up near the front who started on softs and got our race strategy completely destroyed by having the softs burned up by the medium runners in front, but I can't complain as I have done this when the Gr. 4 Alfa 4C was driveable

 

[Hasnain282]

Wasn't expecting much going into the race and didn't get much in the end. Pace wasn't great and I was too cautious with strategy though probably would've been a couple positions at most

 

[Seth_Logan]

Did PD do an update or something and forgot to mention? I didn't dare drive the McLaren, but did a race in my alt (Hyundai). I was driving with all sorts of people C's & B's and even a D and the pace was real sloooowww. Granted, I am very slow at this track - this way round - and my alt is at 14k but the race win went to someone who was doing only 2 laps below 2 minutes. And from what I've been reading here either everyone is in winter hybernation or something was up in this race like last time's nations... PD, PD...

BTW @MCL1974 I do hope everything is ok as can be under such sircumstances. I wish you and your family strength!

Wasn't expecting much going into the race and didn't get much in the end. Pace wasn't great and I was too cautious with strategy though probably would've been a couple positions at most
View attachment 1096369View attachment 1096370View attachment 1096371

Ready for tonight Hasnain?

 

[KosmoKazi]

FIA Gran Turismo Championship // Manufacturer Series
2021 Exhibition Series - Season 2 - Round 6
Autodrome Lago Maggiore - GP II // Gr.3 - Porsche RSR

Been away for a couple of week due to real life things... but I like this track and had today free so was glad to give it a go in the RSR.

Qualified 10th, was held up a bit by a messy Supra in front of me... I'll never learn to wait to pit out. But mid-pack wasn't the worst place to start in a race where all three tires are required. So wasn't too fussed about it. My target was as usual... 7th place, which would be just under 150 FIA points, which suits me fine.

Started on M's, and Earned two spots on the first lap, thanks to some guys binning it on the cold tires. Things were looking up! I only needed to make up one more spot, and with the Porsche being so well balanced on the whole range of tires, felt confident if I just didn't screw up.

Pushed hard lap after lap, and put on the H's for the middle stint after 7 laps... decided to run 3 on the H's in the middle, and then push like hell for the last stint.

Was thrilled to see I was 4th as I exited with the S's on with five laps to go... and the Vette in front of me was within attacking range, even more so when I detected he was on hards... I caught him within the out lap, then picked my spot next lap to get by and run away from him.

Was running down the leaders with 8 seconds behind me, at the end, for a really satisfying and straight-up 3rd place podium... been awhile since I could put a new sticker on the back of the RSR, but a Bronze Trophy is going on there before the next race for sure.

Lots of fun in the Porsche RSR today, including a great race at the 'Ring that I'll post later as well.

Good luck to the rest, I may run it again on my low-A Alt later to join a friend if it works out. But this was a really rewarding race. I like these mandatory tire races when pace and race craft can be rewarded rather than contact or other nonsense.

Door #10 / Q10 / R3 / ~1200 DR / 179 FIA points and tons of fun

 

[FA_Hayes]

Slot 1
A/S lobby
Think I was door 15
Supra BB -2 to save the fronts.

Ugh I was I'll prepared considering how much practice I put in. Yesterday in an effort to improve trail braking I made a few adjustments and it felt great. In my lobby I was going consistent 53.5 to 53.7 quali practice. .2 or so from my record but I'm ok with it and still finished as the top A driver on GT blade and number 17 on the boards.

Jumped in the rig this morning and notice I had to lift my knee up to start releasing the brake smooth and spent the whole morning trying to get back to my old spot including resistance and travel of the load cell. Needless to say I wasn't thrilled.

Yet another race without practice lobbies, and i didn't even practice hards yet but decided to go first slot and do my best.

To my suprise I took pole at 54.4. I waited too long in the pits to quali alone and it only let me do one lap. It usually takes me the first lap to settle my stupid nerves a bit.

Anyway... Pretty uneventful. I always spend time practicing the first sector and make damn sure I have a good line. Less brake and more coasting always helps from a rolling start. By the time I hit the end of S1 I had a .8 gap on #2.

Started on Softs and decided i would go 6, 7M, 2H regardless of the outcome. In the pits with a 5 second gap out in P3, back in to P1 next lap when 2 and 3 pit.

Exit the pit with a 5.5 gap on P2 who was on softs but was able to grow it up to almost 7 when his tires started falling off. 2 laps on hards wasn't too bad considering no practice and my pace was way off due to my stupid nerves.

Anyway... I got my first FIA win and I'm one and done. I really need to get my nerves under control. I only missed 2 apexes but my pace suffers greatly.

 

[RACECAR]

Did abit of practice with a lobby, one plan I experamented in was starting on the Hards and pitting on lap 7 for Mediums, then pitting on lap 11 for Softs. While I did lose time (Mainly due to mistakes I made), I ended up gaining time back as the race went on and on the last lap was really making time on the leaders.

As silly as it probably sounds, I just don't have the pace or tire management to make either the mediums or softs even (Dear god, how) work on the opening stint so this is as good as I can get in terms of strategy, especially with the tire wear multiplier present for this race. Hopefully, the final slot ends well for me.

 

[FA_Hayes]

FIA Gran Turismo Championship // Manufacturer Series
2021 Exhibition Series - Season 2 - Round 6
Autodrome Lago Maggiore - GP II // Gr.3 - Porsche RSR

Been away for a couple of week due to real life things... but I like this track and had today free so was glad to give it a go in the RSR.

Qualified 10th, was held up a bit by a messy Supra in front of me... I'll never learn to wait to pit out. But mid-pack wasn't the worst place to start in a race where all three tires are required. So wasn't too fussed about it. My target was as usual... 7th place, which would be just under 150 FIA points, which suits me fine.

Started on M's, and Earned two spots on the first lap, thanks to some guys binning it on the cold tires. Things were looking up! I only needed to make up one more spot, and with the Porsche being so well balanced on the whole range of tires, felt confident if I just didn't screw up.

Pushed hard lap after lap, and put on the H's for the middle stint after 7 laps... decided to run 3 on the H's in the middle, and then push like hell for the last stint.

Was thrilled to see I was 4th as I exited with the S's on with five laps to go... and the Vette in front of me was within attacking range, even more so when I detected he was on hards... I caught him within the out lap, then picked my spot next lap to get by and run away from him.

Was running down the leaders with 8 seconds behind me, at the end, for a really satisfying and straight-up 3rd place podium... been awhile since I could put a new sticker on the back of the RSR, but a Bronze Trophy is going on there before the next race for sure.

Lots of fun in the Porsche RSR today, including a great race at the 'Ring that I'll post later as well.

Good luck to the rest, I may run it again on my low-A Alt later to join a friend if it works out. But this was a really rewarding race. I like these mandatory tire races when pace and race craft can be rewarded rather than contact or other nonsense.

Door #10 / Q10 / R3 / ~1200 DR / 179 FIA points and tons of fun

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Congrats on the podium good sir!

 

[zegrated]

NA 1900 slot DR B/SR S

Practiced quite a bit for this race must have done 50 or so practice laps on softs best lap was a high 1:56 with jaguar f type.

On my quali lap I ran a 1:58 something which I wasn't happy with but luckily was good enough for 3rd on the grid.

For the race I started off on mediums, I was putting pressure on 2nd place and he finally made a mistake going wide about 3 laps in, I scooted past to take 2nd. 1st place was in the GTR and he was way out in front I think he built up a 5 or 6 second lead by this point not sure what tires he was on.

I pitted for hards on lap 7, when I came out I was in 4th the leader still hadnt stopped and there was a Canadian in an Aston martin in front of me who I guess hadnt stopped either, he held good pace I couldnt close the gap on the hard tires, he stayed about 1.5 to 2s in front of me.

I ran 3 laps on the hards and pitted for softs on lap 10. I came out in 5th I believe and took off, set the fast lap of the race a 1:58 something on the lap after the out lap. Was surprised the fast lap for the race was so slow honestly haha because like I said I had run a lot better in practice but I was definitely being more conservative here so as not to wreck.

I quickly closed the gap on 4th and 3rd and passed them as they battled each other.

And then...I made a huge mistake on lap 13. Went wide on the final corner before the start finish line straight and had a nice date with the wall there. It stopped me dead in my tracks and I spun there with 4th place brazilian right behind me and he hit me too (sorry). Had engine damage for a few seconds then got going again. I was embarrassed and pissed did not want to throw away a good finish for one stupid mistake.

So the Brazilian was a few seconds in front of me now and I took off to catch him, I knew my pace was better. I took about a second off the gap in the first lap after my crash.

It was now the final lap I was in 4th, a second behind the Brazilian in 3rd. 1st was the guy in the GTR and 2nd was the Canadian in Aston martin they were both a ways up I had no hope to catch them.

I could tell the Brazilian was struggling on tires and I caught him but he fought well and I couldnt get around him clean. I finished about 0.2 seconds on track behind him and thought I finished 4th which I was happy but not thrilled with, buuutttttt....

As I see the results come up, I'm in first, all 3 in front of me, the GTR, the Aston Martin and the Brazilian all get the one minute penalty for not following the tire change rules. So...I won. But it felt like an empty win, did not deserve it, i was just the only one who knew the rules. But I guess a win is a win, and I'll take it!

Sorry for the play by play but I enjoyed reading others detailed accounts so thought some might like to read mine!

 

[JoeDaSnow]

Earlier today, I entered round 6 in the first slot, which was the only one I had entered. While I used soft tires for the entirety of practice and qualifying, I started the race with medium. I used these tires until lap 7 when I switched to hard then switched to soft two laps later, having remained with that for the remainder of the race. I started third, finished in first - my first for this season - and scored 29 points. My points total now stood at 124.