Had to have a go at Daily Cs again as I felt like I was in my element in the last FIA Gr.2 race at Fuji. Found some time this evening to do a couple of early evening EMEA lobbies, following a few practice sessions where I set a best qualifying time of 1:10.479 in the 2016 model GT-R. Felt more at ease in the RC F and got a comparable time to match (1:10.490), so entered that into the 17:00 and 18:00 slots.
17:00 EMEA
Qualified 6th in a mostly DR A+/A mix (door number 5), had no practice so did a 7S-7M strategy to see how I would get on. Messed my braking point going through the final esses on Lap 1 which allowed a JPS GT-R to pass, but reclaimed the position when he was forced off the road by an Italian (#7) in an Alpha Tauri GT-R. The #7 started on Mediums and was very easy to catch, especially when he went wide past the turbines on Lap 3. Committed to the inside as I felt there was more than enough space to pass under braking, but reckoned without the Alpha Tauri turning into me as if I wasn't there. Got squeezed onto the inside grass and lost a lot of momentum, falling to 10th as I end up catching the grass trying to leave room for the #14 GT-R.
Enjoyed some tough scraps with two British compatriots in the #8 and #4 GT-Rs, passing the former around the outside of Turn 1 to reclaim provisional 7th. The #4 eventually repasses me on his fight to the front from 20th, so for a while I had to settle down in 11th once the pitstops were over with. Set brake balance from -1 to 0 to compensate for understeer issues on Mediums, but regained three places through a variety of incidents up ahead (including a spin for the Alpha Tauri). One of the cars affected, a second JPS Nissan (#19), attempted to slipstream back past me as soon as I took 8th and went to the blue turf at Turn 1 when I had already covered the outside. Should he have backed out? Should I have left more room for him?
Looking back at the replay, I do feel I was a little too rough with the #19, but at the same time, I don't think there was any need for him to do this as there was plenty of space on the inside to make a Tingram-style dive work. In any case, the RC F felt just as stable and razor sharp as at Fuji. No further dramas on my way to 8th (second-best Lexus behind the Italian finishing 3rd), aside from a small DR drop relative to my car number.
18:00 EMEA
Qualified 8th this time as the fastest of the three Lexuses starting in a more evenly-split lobby. Two cars dropped out before the warm-up which promoted me to 7th as the 6th seed. Burnt fuel more aggressively on the formation sequence and decided to try a Mediums-first strategy as that seemed to work out well for a few others in the 17:00.
First couple of laps were intriguing with penalties, an off for the #11 GT-R and a weird lag issue on Lap 2 as I successfully defended from the #16 Costco GT-R. A disconnect and a spin for two other GT-Rs (cars #3 and #4) put me in an excellent position; by the end of Lap 4, I was already up to 4th despite struggling to get a good run through the final sector. Pitted a lap later while I still had a comfy cushion over the #15 GT-R, hoping to get a big undercut on the rest of the frontrunners. This worked out splendidly when I found myself keeping 4th when the pit cycles ended on Lap 9.
Found the rest of the race tough with the rapid tyre degradation and a few lapses in concentration allowing the #15 to once more make big gains. Between Laps 10 and 13, the gap between us had slashed from around 2.3 to just over 1.1 seconds by the time we negotiated through Turn 4. That was when I spotted the #5 GT-R ghosted and going slow into the next right-hander. Distanced myself from the #5 to give him a chance to recover before sticking to his diffuser for the run to Turn 8. At that point, he touches the gravel and slides, allowing me to snatch 3rd near the turbines. Ran with it as the #5 fought and eventually got spun out by the #15.
Two were enough for me today, and out of those come my 140th Top 5 finish in GT Sport and a new all-time high DR tally of 62,461 points. There were still some rough moments, not going to lie, but these proved to be an excellent primer for the forthcoming Nations Gr.2 round at Red Bull Ring. If everything works out, maybe I can go one step further in the RC F around one of my strongest real-world circuits...
