Last night's Nations Cup entry was an entirely spur-of-the-moment affair. Zero strategy, zero testing aside from one FP session (best lap a 2:22.9), and zero time or inclination to prepare a livery for the orange Civic Touring Car that was happening to sit around in my garage. That being said, the 19:00 slot was the only one available to me by the time I checked the Sport Mode menu - mere minutes before the entry period was due to close. So, after a moment of deliberation (will I, won't I?), I went for it.
19:00 Nations (GT1, EMEA)
Got out surprisingly early in qualifying, spent my first proper lap trying to work out the Civic's limits as it turns out that you need to keep the throttle engaged to mitigate the understeer. Didn't stop me from being reeled in by a Spanish driver who caught me at the hairpin and backed out when his attempt to get up the inside failed. Completely misjudged braking for the Casio Triangle so had to scratch that lap and let others through. This was when I learnt that you can still get disqualified if you sit around on track too long. Eventually set a 2:22.918 which was good enough to start 11th behind a Spoon car and a replica of Gordon Shedden's 2015 title-winning Type R.
Got off the line well on TCS 2 and spent the early part of the race following the Shedden car around while receiving a light tap from behind courtesy of a Portuguese entrant. Prior to entering, I did happen to read
@D_Dragline's tips on using higher gears and keeping the throttle open to get around the Civic's understeer issue, so my focus was to use those techniques to keep it on the tarmac and not lose too much momentum on corner exits. On Lap 2, a Swiss driver going by the alter-ego 'Max Verstappen' gets sucked onto the runoff at Turn 2, gifting us a place as Shedden's tow allows us to break away from the squabbling backmarkers. Later in the same lap, a French grey Civic picks up a track limits penalty at the Casio Triangle, putting another place up for grabs. Even with a brief off-track excursion at 130R, I was in the right place to capitalise as the French car compromised Shedden's run through the chicane and allowed me to briefly slot in between both of them. Even without that penalty, the French driver was struggling a lot more with understeer, which didn't help him when he took poor runs through the S curves and Degna 2. Seized the chance to get a run on the inside through Turn 10, but at the same time putting myself at risk of being hung out to dry if the Frenchman fought back. Sure enough, he did, but carried too much speed which allowed me and Shedden through.
Halfway through the race, we begin to catch up with a group of four cars battling for fourth place. One of the cars in that group - in Repsol colours - runs onto the gravel, allowing me a chance to pressure him as he recovers. Before long, I'm at the tail end of the group now fighting for 5th, from which things got a bit more sketchy. First, the Castrol GTX car at the head of the pack drifts out of Turn 2. He dices with both the Repsol and Spoon cars through and out of the hairpin, eventually dropping back far enough for me to pressure him as well. Not willing to give up on his track position, the GTX car punts the Repsol wide at the start of the Casio Triangle. The Repsol runs over the grass and into the GTX's rear-left quarter, losing enough momentum so as to compromise my own exit. This allows Shedden to get back into the mix as he and an Irish driver in a dark blue Civic both get past on the run to Turn 1. There was contact between myself and the Irish driver as he moved across with his rear bumper touching my front, which in turn also allows the Frenchman to put be back where I had started.
The Irishman runs onto the gravel at Degna 2; he gets into the side of Shedden which in turn blocks the Frenchman and myself as we both commit to the inside of the hairpin. I had not anticipated the Frenchman to slow down so much, so ended up in the back of him. By pure accident, this pushed the Frenchman forward violently enough for him to push past the Irishman on exit. Had a chance to look up the inside of and get a run on the Irishman out of Spoon, but couldn't quite stick closely enough to him to get the advance I needed. Finished 11th for 159 points.
Even with the scrappiness of the final quarter, that felt to me like a proper BTCC-style race with plenty of multi-car battles and unpredictable moments sprinkled on top of these. Until that hold-up at the Triangle on Lap 6, I was running as high as 8th and could've had a genuine chance of mixing it in with those fighting for 5th. Considering that I went in this with barely any practice, I treated the race as an opportunity to gain confidence and experience in racing front-wheel drive machines under GT7's current physics. To that, I'd say it was a success, and the throttle/gearing techniques D_Dragline mentioned I found especially useful. Keeping the throttle engaged mid-corner was particularly essential to getting the most out of the Civic in this combo, and is something I will continue to practice in other car types/categories as the main seasons go on.
Waited over 20 mins before quitting the game. I don't think the split ever went ahead, as none of the guys that I got matched again with in the following slot had any points scored. Although judging from 
