An opportunity lost...
Quali: 1st
Sprint: 2nd
Enduro: 2nd
Foreword:
Konnichi wa!
Suzuka saw the ushering in of the revised race format and it all seemed to flow quite well, from a host's point of view anyway. Everybody seemed to be aware of the new system and there were no hiccups of note, so all in all - success!
However, Update 1.12 (as like a few of its predecessors) bought with it a new bug
This one centred around sound issues - no engine sound and also no tyre & turbo sound. This meant a few people had to rejoin to 'fix' the issue but other than that, things seemed to me to be just fine.
Quali:
Surprising to get a maiden pole at a track where the Audis seemed to have the advantage. First lap was solid enough but also cautious enough to make sure it counted. Second lap was only a couple of tenths quicker and well over a half second
slower than had been managed in practise. Can only assume the Audi drivers - eol especially - had issues the second time round. eol himself was a full
8 tenths slower than he'd managed in practise, so it was definitely a case of luck being with me this time. With the other 'big hitters' sitting out of this one, pole feels more like a default than an achievement, but it was still tough to get ahead of the Audis, so am pleased overall.
Sprint:
Having experienced beforehand the straight line advantage of the Audis in a few practise races leading up to race day, it was no surprise to see eol thrust past my helpless Viper at the start - I held onto the lead for a measly 7 seconds
The Viper - with reasonably high downforce - completely pwned the Audi through the esses. Unfortunately for my poor old Vipey, the opposite was also true of the straights - it really was like being sat stationary whilst watching the Audi
breeze past. Have never experienced such a huge deficit in straight line speed so far this season than at Suzuka (bearing in mind that my Monza experience was sorta cut short by incidents). Aero would have played a part - sure - but I need me some of that DRS the Audi seems to have atm
It was fun to race against eol here and be able to put him under
some pressure at least but it was always looking like second place at best due to the Audi's ability to swoop past at whatever available straight was next. Not that that actually mattered in the sprint - eol, after taking the lead at the start, never relinquished his lead even once. It was a solid drive - he coped with the the little pressure I could manage to put him under and cruised to a well deserved maiden win. Nice work 👍
Enduro:
With the new format meaning that the results from the Sprint race determine the grid positions for the Enduro, I was sitting in second - my highest start position for an Enduro so far this season, I believe.
The formation lap went smoothly - there were no reports of damage anyway, so all good.
My start, though, was not so good - I did manage to keep second going into T1, but coming out of the esses, I decided to take a wider line to give myself an opportunity to power through Dunlop. This was a mistake - it allowed Cod, who'd already jumped Gabguss, the opportunity to get a nose up the inside meaning I couldn't turn in where I wanted to without having caused a collision of some kind. The extra wider line meant I lost out through Dunlop, where I eased off the power to let him complete the pass before the upcoming Degner 1. I later lost out to Gabguss as well, meaning I was down to fourth with little chance of hanging on to eol's draft. He was disappearing off into the Japanese sunset while I worked back up to second. The first half of the race was, for me at least, relatively incident free. Apart from lap 9, where I braked too late into the chicane and gave the position to Gabguss.
Then came the pitstops. Gabguss ahead of me pitted just one lap before I came in on lap 15 (again, the same lap as my team mate crelou - we at SRT really seem to have this sorta 'double stacking' system down right now
). He retook second after my stop but was battling with yuc through the esses. Dunlop (but moreover, my shoddy driving) was to be my nemesis again, as I tried to make a pass on the inside having seen him lose some time. As I went through Degner 1, I lost control slightly and that was enough to spin out and find myself on the gravel
Thankfully, there were no cars close by so I made my way back onto track immediately and begun the pursuit of Gabguss and second position. Managed to close up the gap and make a pass with just over 10 minutes to go but the battling had cost me some 7-8 seconds to the leader.
After regaining second it was a case of holding it all together to bring the car home for a reasonably good result. In hindsight, though, with some of the other guys not present, it feels like a missed opportunity to bag a couple more victories.
Well done to eol on doing just that though - nice double 👍
Some consolation is that I
did manage to get the fastest lap in the second half of the race (1:56.855), so that was cool... but surprising as well
Also, well done to crelou for negotiating a tricky start to the race to fight back well to get another solid points finish 👍
EDIT: Well done to newcomer El Greco (Ross76) for sticking in there right till the end. Seems like you had a difficult first race meeting - I told you it was Sparta, didn't I?
Onto Laguna and, as Skybridge has already pointed out, it should be a little more difficult for the Audi's to stretch their legs around here so it could potentially be a much closer race.
Kanpai!