Seeing as I've got some spare time this morning...*Note* This is a slightly long read, just remember that
My season review
Round 1: Madrid Reverse.
I enter the opening round of indycar feeling relatively confident of a decent result after a strong pre season. I turned down offers to teams thanks to the fact that I may not be able to finish all the races.
Qualifying
Didn't lap as fast as pre season for whatever reason despite progress in other areas, 2nd place will have to do behind the dominant Spurgy.
Race
After the qualifying delay there is a chance I may be unable to complete the race. The start goes well and I stay out of trouble retaining 2nd. Gap to Spurgy up ahead was increasing little by little each lap growing to around 4 seconds before I started catching up which is when he pitted. I pitted and retained 2nd place and then....
A caution came out, wiping out me & Spurgy's advantage over the rest of the field. After this restart I feel much more comfortable in the car and stay within 2.5 seconds of Spurgy during the entire stint and setting personal best lap times.
Before inevitably another caution came out, and this it all started to go downhill...
While letting Fox take his lap, I get rammed up the back by the yellow car of Matty, I'm forced to pit again under caution and fall to 8th behind the RPM car of Joe who stayed out and was leading under caution when he also pitted. We're back to green and a train during the first racing lap as I duel with the ECM car of Plux. As the field come to lap Cami, Plux makes a very clever move at the hairpin and passes 3 cars in 1 move which includes me! I follow his path and also take a positon, but coming off the hairpin I take the outside of Cami for the kink leaving him room to go side by side but I get edged against the wall, leaving me with damage and forcing me to pit under green putting me in the lower reaches of the top 10.
The comeback
With nothing to lose, I push like hell to regain as much ground as possible. I pass Frasier, Fox and after cars ahead like Matty and Plux had some personal time with the wall I move up into the top 5 before making my final stop with about 15 minutes to go. I repass Am on old tyres and set my sights on trying to chance Lancer for 2nd, who was quite far ahead so all hope seemed lost, but, with less than 5 minutes to go I see his name...I'm getting closer quite quickly, he must have not pitted. With about 2 minutes left I make the move to pass him for 2nd some 40 seconds or so behind the dominant Spurgy, I take the flag in 2nd place, which was the best I could do.
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Round 2 - Indianapolis GP
I enter this round confident of another good result and having looked decent in testing here I felt there was a chance of achieving a victory if things go my way.
Qualifying
We all rush out of the pit lane for track position and as usual I leave the pits late for some clear air, I set a good banker lap, good enough for P1 at the time. But unsurprisingly Spurgy puts a good lap in of a 19.6 to go top. I pit for fresh rubber and go for another lap and it's P1 with a 19.5! But surely not, I'm 0.2 up on that lap too, can I go even faster? We cross the line and it's not an improvement, but my time of a 19.5 was enough to secure the bonus points and pole position, but the question is, can we hold on in the race?
Race
We line on the grid after a pace lap, waiting for the timer to reach 4:00.000...And it's go! I make a reasonable getaway but Spurgy jumps me into first place and holds the lead into Turn 1, I follow in 2nd with DrifterJoe in 3rd. The fast gokartman started at the back but has been making his way through the order.
Me & Spurgy make slight contact and Spurgy loses ground to 3rd place allowing Joe to sneak up into second place. So all good so far but a few laps later I overcook it into Turn 1 and go across the grass, losing positions to Joe and Spurgy and nearly taking Plux out with my slightly "dangerous" rejoin. I regroup and set the fastest lap of the race to close in on the top 2 before Spurgy spins out at Turn 4 dropping him down the order. I close up to Joe and make the move round the outside of Turn 1 for the lead and instantly pull away.
Now some time later my lead is up to 10 seconds but I miss a downshift and loop the rear round at Turn 11 losing 7 seconds and cutting my lead down to 3 seconds. Tyre life is good and me & Joe pit on the same lap and I retain the lead. No cautions so far in this race which will help me out.
My lead grows larger and after every pitstop I continue to set very consistent lap times in the 19s, keeping me right where I need to be.
*fast forwards*
We enter the final laps and gokartman is in 2nd place a good 40 or so second adrift with Joe 3rd and Spurgy 4th with fastest lap. I look to have moved up into the championship lead providing I get to the flag in one piece. And we do it, we cross it first and take the championship lead, but we need a good Indy 500 if we're going to stay there...
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Round 3 - Indianapolis 500
So here we are, the golden race of the season, the 500 mile race at the brickyard, one of the greatest races in the world. Can you time your pitstops to perfection, can you stay out of trouble? Can you manage your fuel better than your rivals? Add all these key things can give you the advantage you need to win. I had reached an agreement with Furinkazen to drive for Team RPM in place of Fox who will move to an satellite entry for RPM.
Qualifying
After some late setup changes I feel much more comfortable in the car and sit 4th after the first runs. I failed to get a slipstream during my lap meaning I couldn't challenge unless I got a tow. I pitted to try and rejoin in some traffic but failed so I backed off and put myself behind Sig to start my lap and I go P1 by a tenth. We will start on pole for the second time this season.
Race
After a restart after confusion at the start we're green and I hold the lead after the 1st lap and stay there until a caution comes out just a handful of laps in, I stay out and retain my lead until around lap 30(a.k.a another 3 cautions later) I pit for tyres and some fuel.
I rejoin in 10th place but know I have the pace to move up but while trying to pass cars I tag the wall and receive damage...but the car is still pretty driveable so I stay out and move up move places until a crash with Furi and Yera just ahead in T3 causes a caution. But me & Niop who was the car behind pit straight away before the pits were closed giving us an advantage and moving us up to 2nd & 3rd. I take the lead before yet another caution comes out leaving me 5th after another stop, but within 2 laps I use my superior top speed and lower downforce setup to sail past the others into P1. However just past 1/3 distance I have to abandon the race from the lead...very disappointing after how good the car was, oh well there's always a next time.
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Round 4 - Apricot Hill Duels
Nothing really special to say here but this event has two 1 hour sprint races with half points.
Qualiying
I join the session late and start 2nd behind the dominant Spurgy.
Race 1
Stay second throughout, cautions close things up and drop the leaders down the order while others stayed out, I make a mad dash in the final minutes to win the race before being penalised for jump start from 1 of the restarts, shame that.
Race 2
Race 2 was a bit more scrappy and a gamble that another caution would come out around 15mins to go backfired and left me with dead tyres with a last minutes caution meaning I was defenceless. Not to mention being hit by Lancer on the final lap giving me engine damage meaning I dropped from 2nd to 8th in just 2 laps.
Pretty bad weekend in all and with Brands cancelled, Motegi will be the final round next week. Spurgy is now champion. *yawn*
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Round 5 - Motegi Superspeedway
Nothing to say really.
Qualifying
Late setup changes leave me 3rd on the grid.
Race
I make a good start and hold 2nd before slowly catching Spurgy before a caution comes out. I restart and drop back slightly before reeling him in. His car was set up with less downforce giving him less tyre wear and making him slow through through T3. I passed him and pulled away before he pitted. I stayed out much longer and came out 5 seconds behind but quickly caught and passed him again. Joe, Furi & Fox were also strong and RPM were looking good for a great result.
A caution with 40 laps to go and the fact that I made a bundle of strategy errors costing me places and destroying any advantage I had. With a handful of laps to go the ECM cars of Plux & Spurgy were on fresh rubber and we faster down the straights. Plux went to the outside for T3 (for P2 with Spurgy just ahead) as I defended but as Spurgy takes a late apex in T3 we made contact and a caution was called and I fell to 5th but on fresh rubber. The mad dash to finish didn't go well with me missing a gear costing me a place to Furi leaving me 5th(or 6th) after another strong showing at an oval.
Another missed opportunity.
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