Nations - Autopolis Short Gr.4
Race 1 was a total trainwreck. I got tapped off turn 1 by Mr. Scrappy from the Mini race, sending me to the back. Then a Korean wiped me out at turn 1 too despite me leaving the inside wide open, which really ticked me off. He apologised, but I was no mood to accept apologies after getting punted off twice in a row. Finished 19th after someone wiped out Mr. Scrappy at the line.
Race 2
I spent the downtime between slots studying my compatriot's lap from Race 1 to work out where I was losing time. With this knowledge, I put together a much better qualifying lap to start 4th. Of course, I promptly got shoved wide amidst the mayhem of turn 1, briefly dropping to 10th before climbing back up and getting involved in a three-way fight for 4th between me, an Audi that was the polesitter, and an Indonesian BMW that had barged his way up from the back.
Mr. Scrappy in the VW and the Indonesian BMW shoving past me in the chaos of the opening laps.
On lap 5, I had to take evasive action while braking into the final corner to avoid running into the back of the Audi. Unfortunately for me, the BMW behind braked too late and sent me into the gravel. Needless to say, I was frothing at the mouth with rage at getting punted off for the third time that night.
The punt sent me down to 8th right behind the VW of one Mr. Scrappy and just ahead of the other midfielders. The BMW's 2 second penalty for sending me off meant that he fell into range of Mr. Scrappy, me and the other midfielders. Heading into turn 1, the BMW ran into the VW, sending the latter wide. I concertinaed into the BMW in turn, allowing the BMW to scrape past the VW for 6th.
To recap my situation on lap 7, I was down in 8th behind two drivers that had already punted me off once each. I also had a Subaru crawling all over my rear bumper heading into Sector 2. Hell bent on forcing my way back into 6th and with an axe to grind against the two drivers ahead of me, I made a lunge into turn 6's hairpin. At the same time, Mr. Scrappy was making the same move on the BMW into the same corner.
Three cars, two of them attempting a divebomb into turn 6. The results were not pretty, to put it mildly.
Video of the VW and BMW's driving in the lead up to the incident and the incident itself:
I did not mean to shove both of them into the grass, but I can't help but feel they both deserved it. Both drivers had punted me off, Mr. Scrappy had forced someone into the pit wall last Saturday and the BMW had ploughed into other cars on multiple occasions in Race 2.
For some inexplicable reason, I got away without a penalty for the incident. The VW dropped to 11th with a 2 second penalty, while the BMW dropped to 17th before scoring a revenge punt on the VW. The VW basically gave up on the race then and there, while the BMW got another 2 second penalty for the punt before proceeding to shove an unlucky Subaru off at turn 3.
Meanwhile, I was battling a different Subaru over 6th. The Subaru was able to get ahead of me by the end of lap 7, but I was able to retake 6th with a move up the inside into turn 3 on lap 9.
I managed to hold off the Subaru to take 6th for 145 points.
Despite running two cars off that race, I got a CRB. And the Indonesian BMW was not happy with Mr. Scrappy, as the above screenshot shows. Oddly enough, neither of them said anything about my involvement in the lap 7 incident. The Indonesian clearly blamed Mr. Scrappy for the incident, while Mr. Scrappy said nothing about me. With how messy this race was, I chose not to go again.
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