:SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT RACE REPORT:
I thought I'd give myself a head start for Shanghai, I was fed up of coming home in the midfield, so I put aside a little seat time to set up my car and do a few TT laps. Things went alright early sunday, I saved my tune and waited patiently for the evenings meet. Well, what a waste of time that turned out to be! Not quite sure why it happened, but my car felt completely different than it did earlier. Like night and day different!
Douqa told me that fuel and tyre simulation arent on in the TT, but even so the differences were dramatic. My preperation during the TT actually hindered my performance in the race and qualifying, which was annoying to say the least. Anyway I just had to get on with it. I tried my best to set up my car and qualify, but I finished 5th again where I've ended up most weeks. Felt good about the race to come and so I took my grid spot and settled in.
Turn one was a pretty good show this week 👍 Well done guys. I think it was just myself that had a little incident actually. Going into the corner was fine, but almost all the way around and into turn 2 I managed to collect Stevi. God knows how though
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I was going as slow and tight as I could and all of a sudden I was in the sidepod of an HRT. I dont know if it was me, or lag, or if Stevi was about to spin and I actually saved him, but I looked back to see if he was ok and before I knew it I was off the track and on the grass
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I couldnt be sure I hadnt cause the accident though so I hung back and rejoined the track in last place.
By the time I got to turn 6 there looked to have been an absolutely massive coming together. I took the corner with three people parked on the outside and D34NO waiting which promoted me back up to 7th pretty quickly. Tucked right up behind Spagetti I got good traction out of turn 10 and made a move at 11. Hard on the brakes I took a really tight line around 11 and took a sweeping line through 12, not quite sure what happened to Spagetti but out of 13 and on the back straight he was no where to be seen, so I kept the hammer down and set my sights on my next target. Lap 2 and I was just about reeling in Junky bar a slight mistake in turn 1. I kept the pressure on though and at turn 10 he got a little tail happy and I managed to take the position as he tried to tame the oversteer. Comfortably past the next thing I hear is 'WOAH GOD DAMN!!' as Junky misses his braking point and flies off track
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Good for me as now I have no pressure and continue on with the car hunt.
Next in line was lbsf. He was keeping his ground well and I could only gain a tenth or two here and there. Made a few unforced errors as well which gave him the time back, but by lap 5 he made a critical mistake and I passed a Force India facing the wrong way in turn 3. Made a mistake or two myself on the next couple of laps but immediately made my pit stop afterward.
Not a particularly thrilling race after that. I entered the pits in 3rd and rejoined the race in 5th. It was all about bringing the car home at that point, and if I'm honest I didnt drive a brilliant second half of the race. I was pushing hard and I made a lot of mistakes, I'm happy with my overall position but I do believe had I not made so many mistakes I could of been on the podium this week. At one point I overtook LewyOs in the pits, and had the pleasure of doing battle with him for a lap or two. Inevitably though he got past me, on fresh rubber and driving more consitantly than I, he put his better talent to use and left me floundering. I only finished behind 3rd place man Stevi by 12 seconds though, which I know I'd left out on track, there's no mistake about that. But, consitancy is key, and I need to work on racing lap after lap without getting ditracted. It will come, I hope. Maybe I can pull an Alonso in the middle of the season
:SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT ONBOARD OPENING STINT:
:COMMENTARY:
- Congratulations to Octane Junky this week for eventually succeeding to complete a full race!
Not only that he managed to beat off 3 of his competitors to take a deserved 8th place!
- Zeekon took the plunge and decided to give manual gears a go. Unfortunately his sequential box took a beating and he had to retire to the outside of turn 8 before race distance was complete.
- Stevi made his return after a weekend break to make a personal best performance with a solid 3rd placing.
- While elsewhere on the podium Douqa takes his first visit to the top step, beating off stiff competition from a blood thirsty Sharky.
- A little down the grid and a surprise performance from LewyOs in 4th. Possibly revealing a chink in his armour and giving us hope in the face of a white wash we all might have been expecting.
:SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT RACE RESULTS:
And with this, the post race report for Sepang is concluded 👍 Dont forget to check the opening post for new race schedules and championship standings!
:FEEDBACK:
Nasty business first. I nodded to having noticed a crash on the first lap in my race report. However I dont think it should just be left there as it was obviously a big one. I've received no complaints, I've read no apologies, so I can only assume that it was all dealt with on track as it should of been. I cant take any action if no one tells me the details, but this kind of coming together is not becoming of the series and so I'd like to get to the bottom of it. Hopefully stop it happening in future, but also because someone was being ridiculously too aggressive into turn 6.
Right. I'd also like to know how you all feel about the practice races. I always wait until 9.10 anyway, and then the 3 lap practice gives a little more time to wait for stragglers as well. Its also in my opinion, a good way to guage how the first corner will pan out before the actual race. The original reason was to make sure everyone was happy with settings and everything, but now we're all up to speed I thought maybe it was just a bother and extra time you'd rather not take. Discuss
Thank you.
.